There will be a lot of talk today about this being an unprecedented time in the NHL.
The league’s decision to temporarily suspend the season because of the ongoing coronavirus threat, a day after the NBA stunned the world by doing the same, is indeed a historical day.
On a Board of Governors call on Thursday, there was no official vote by owners but commissioner Gary Bettman asked if there was opposition to pausing the season and there wasn’t. They also made it clear this is hoped to be a temporary stoppage.
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“Our goal is to resume play as soon as it is appropriate and prudent, so that we will be able to complete the season and award the Stanley Cup,” Bettman said in a release.
So it’s a unique day in NHL history but not unprecedented. The 1919 Stanley Cup showdown was halted five games into a series between the Montreal Canadiens and Seattle Metropolitans because of the Spanish flu, one of only two times the Cup wasn’t awarded since the onset of the NHL in 1917. The other, of course, was when the 2004-05 lockout wiped out the season.
I was in that news conference in New York in 2005, commissioner Gary Bettman as somber as can be in announcing that news.
On this day, I think it’s fair to say everyone is a little apprehensive, unsure of what lies ahead as a world health pandemic descends on the globe.
It’s been a week like few others in NHL history, one which began on Monday night when Santa Clara County officials announced they were putting a temporary ban on all large gatherings.
I reported on Tuesday night on TSN’s Insider Trading that the San Jose Sharks were leaning toward playing in front of an empty arena when they returned home to host the Montreal Canadiens. On Wednesday, the Sharks made that official, saying they would play in an empty SAP Center for their three March home games.
Then the Columbus Blue Jackets announced on Tuesday, after consultation with the NHL, that they still planned to allow fans in the building for their home games Thursday and Saturday despite the Ohio governor’s recommendation to ban large gatherings in indoor venues. The governor doubled down Wednesday, saying he would ban all large gatherings. That took the decision out of the Jackets’ hands, the NHL club announcing Thursday’s game against the Penguins would be played in front of empty stands.
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Turns out the game won’t be played at all.
Once the NBA suspended its season Wednesday night amid the news that one of its players tested positive for the coronavirus, the NHL had no choice but to completely reconsider its course of action. Never mind games in empty arenas. Time to postpone all games period. As one NHL governor pointed out to me Thursday morning, we really have no idea if an NHL player may or may not have already been infected with the disease given the lack of testing in the U.S. so far. So it’s the prudent decision to suspend the season for now.
Not to mention the mere fact of how many arenas overlap between the NBA and NHL. That on its own is justification to suspend the NHL season.
And while many criticized the NHL for essentially putting off that decision until Thursday given the NBA’s swift action Wednesday night, one can understand the need to confer with owners on a Board of Governors call today. The NHL Players’ Association has also been in direct contact with its 31 player reps over the past 24 hours.
Suspending the season, for now, was the obvious decision.
“It’s the right thing to do,’’ said one veteran NHL player via text message Thursday morning, requesting anonymity.
When to resume the season, if that’s even an option, that’s the more intricate decision.
The NHL is more gate-driven than the NBA, as the two league’s TV deals aren’t even comparable; the NHL’s financial well-being depends on getting those four rounds of playoff games in even if it means summer hockey.
But I can’t imagine the season resuming until leading health authorities proclaim the virus under control and deem it safe to hold large public gatherings again.
It seems hardly significant on a day like this but part of what the NHL and NHLPA have to deal with moving forward is determining the longer-term financial impact of these decisions. Just a week ago, the NHL announced a bullish salary cap projection of between $84 to $88.2 million for next season, a jump from the current $81.5 million cap.
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Well, who knows now? Any significant hit to hockey-related revenue for the rest of the season will have a direct impact on the salary cap. But I will point out one important fact, regardless of the rules in the CBA governing the formula calculating HRR and the salary cap, the NHL and NHLPA can throw that out the window and agree to an artificial cap figure for next season in the case of an emergency like this. As long as both sides feel it’s the best course of action, they can do that, a source confirmed Wednesday. So you can forget a salary cap dropping by millions for next season and throwing teams into roster Armageddon. The league and NHLPA won’t let that happen, although with any course the union will be mindful at the same time of not putting its players in a crazy escrow situation, either.
But those financial matters seem so secondary on a day like today. People love sports because it gives them an outlet from the rigors of our everyday life. Having the NHL and NBA seasons suspended is a stark reminder of the real-life threat upon us now.
It’s a time in our lives like no other.
(Top photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
