Ban Price trades
Rejoint: oct. 2017
Messages: 6,482
Mentions "j'aime": 6,455
I'll preface this with a few things: I'm not trying to politicize this post and I'm assuming the league plays 48-ish games.
I think Canadian teams crossing the border in any capacity is fundamentally reliant on two things:
1. Biden wins the presidency
2. By virtue of #1, a successful virus mitigation plan is executed beginning the day Biden is inaugurated running through mid-February to early-March.
I don't believe a second term of Trump - and thus no legitimate virus mitigation - bodes well for any of the professional leagues. We know the players don't want to be stuck in a bubble for large swaths of time, and having paid some attention to the fallout from the lack of virus control in the World Series, I'm confident that neither the league nor the players association wants to move forward with the 2020-21 season so long as COVID-19 remains such a prevalent issue in the States.
The logistics and physical implications of the Canadian teams and their staffs crossing the border while the virus remains unchecked begets that travel has to be done in one, large go: returning back to Canada and self-isolating, even for a few days, does not fit in the parameters the league is going to establish in a condensed season. There isn't enough time. If, for example, all of the Canadian division games are played during this period (24 games, every second day, works out to just shy of 7 weeks), all seven teams could then look at travelling through the States to play the remaining 24 teams once.
This means teams in the Canadian division will play each other four times, then play one game against the rest of the league. The 8-team divisions would have to play each other 3 times, play the remaining teams once, and then play 4 more intra-division games. I believe this was a similar format to what the league executed during the lockout-shortened season.
I alluded to this earlier, but I think the League itself is reliant on those two points as well: we know the owners aren't making the kinds of profits they're expecting out of their investment. If the United States can get a reasonable footing in "flattening the curve", there's a high likelihood that the date Canada comes to town is when teams can start allowing reduced capacity seating in their arenas. This is the key piece for a league-inclusive restart.
If push comes to shove, the above conditions are not true, but the League opts to play the 2020-21 season, expect the Canadian division teams to play themselves 8 times and the 8-team divisions to play each other 4 times, the teams in the other divisions once, and 4 additional intra-divisional games.
1. Toronto
2. Edmonton
3. Montreal
4. Vancouver
5. Winnipeg
6. Calgary
7. Ottawa