The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

[Keirik]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

Thank god it’s back. Nervously excited.

[nikethebike]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

Playing the same few teams all the time will be fun.

You think seeing the same game over and over for a full season is fun?
I'm glad this is hopefully temporary myself. Much better than nothing, but I like seeing different teams play. But who knows perhaps I will change my mind?

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

You think seeing the same game over and over for a full season is fun?
I'm glad this is hopefully temporary myself. Much better than nothing, but I like seeing different teams play. But who knows perhaps I will change my mind?

If it's the NBA then that's a diff story because if you see Lakers vs Suns 10 times, the Lakers are probably winning at least 9 times. In the NHL, anyone can win on any given night, and you feel those rivalries more when it comes to playing the same team over and over again.

You could see Leafs vs Sens where Leafs win 5-1 one night, and Sens win 3-2 the next.

[nikethebike]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

If it's the NBA then that's a diff story because if you see Lakers vs Suns 10 times, the Lakers are probably winning at least 9 times. In the NHL, anyone can win on any given night, and you feel those rivalries more when it comes to playing the same team over and over again.

You could see Leafs vs Sens where Leafs win 5-1 one night, and Sens win 3-2 the next.

While that's true to a degree, I like seeing McDavid face Crosby or Ovechkin vs Matthews. Not getting to see the best face eachother at all is kind of a letdown. But as I said hopefully this is temporary.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

So from what I read, the Canadian government has already approved letting teams play here? Guess it got buried in the news with everything I've been doing the past 2-3 days.

So now we can focus on hockey! Still feels more like a lockout than anything else, especially right now when NFL is going on, NBA is back and world juniors is on. At least we know NHL will be back in just over 2 weeks!

[ImTellinTim]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

The combination of not having Fox Sports North and being on the West Coast half the time means I will be basically watching no Wild games. *shrugs*

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

NHL randomly having 2 outdoor games. On the plus side, at least they can do so without needing fans.

And most shocking, Chicago isn't part of it, although Boston still is.

They're playing at Lake Tahoe Edgewood Resort.

Will be interesting to see how it all looks on TV.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

Spurgeon named the 2nd full time captain in Wild history (they had a rotating list of guys from 00-08)

Canucks signing Hamonic to a PTO.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

NHL will be naming the divisions.

So what will we see? Wales and Campbell, Norris and Smythe? Howe, Gretzky, Orr, Lemieux?

Wrong. It'll be Scotiabank, Honda, Discover, MassMututal.

Seriously. Good news at least is that it helps the league financially, and the official division names will still be North, east,central,west.

Scotiabank North Division
MassMututal East Division
Honda West Division
Discover Central Division

[nikethebike]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

NHL will be naming the divisions.

So what will we see? Wales and Campbell, Norris and Smythe? Howe, Gretzky, Orr, Lemieux?

Wrong. It'll be Scotiabank, Honda, Discover, MassMututal.

Seriously. Good news at least is that it helps the league financially, and the official division names will still be North, east,central,west.

Scotiabank North Division
MassMututal East Division
Honda West Division
Discover Central Division

It's all 'bout the money... It's all 'bout the dum dum du du dum dum...

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

It's all 'bout the money... It's all 'bout the dum dum du du dum dum...

It's something I could see sticking in the future. Like a small part of it at least. Regular division names stick, but the official logo for the divisions end up having the sponsor logo on them.

Speaking of which, I wonder if that could lead to NHL wanting MORE divisions. The plan when Seattle enters is 4 divisions of 8 teams. But if NHL wants to have the sponsors for divisions, what if they do 8 divisions of 4? That's double the amount of division sponsors you can have, while having more intense rivalries between closely located teams, and the playoff format ends up being the 4 division winners plus the next 4 best teams.

[kehlis]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

It's something I could see sticking in the future. Like a small part of it at least. Regular division names stick, but the official logo for the divisions end up having the sponsor logo on them.

Speaking of which, I wonder if that could lead to NHL wanting MORE divisions. The plan when Seattle enters is 4 divisions of 8 teams. But if NHL wants to have the sponsors for divisions, what if they do 8 divisions of 4? That's double the amount of division sponsors you can have, while having more intense rivalries between closely located teams, and the playoff format ends up being the 4 division winners plus the next 4 best teams.

I don’t think that would change their mind. The endorsement cost would be cut in half by reducing exposure from eight teams to four so the revenue to the NHL would pretty much be the same either way.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

I don’t think that would change their mind. The endorsement cost would be cut in half by reducing exposure from eight teams to four so the revenue to the NHL would pretty much be the same either way.

I dont think the endorsement price would be cut in half. The name will still be attached to a division known league wide. And the number of games will still be the same, it'll just be between a smaller group of teams.

And smaller divisions could mean ads more specific in some cases. I don't think Scotiabank will sponsor a division involving the Lightning,Panthers,Canes. But they'd probably love sponsoring a Leafs,Sens,Habs,Sabres division.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

Leafs will be televising their intrasquad game this Saturday night.

The Jays did it last summer since they didnt really have a "summer camp". It was a big hit.

I wouldn't be opposed to leagues doing this instead of preseason, or at the very least a reduced preseason in favour of televised intrasquad games.

I'm sure viewers in any market would be more interested in an intrasquad game than a meaningless game vs some random team where you dont even know 99% of the opponents prospects in that game. I know I'm more excited for a Leafs intrasquad game than a Leafs vs Sens preseason battle.

TV ratings wise and eventually ticket wise, you could probably draw more than the prior norm.

[bhurst99]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

Oh boy. So it begins. Start of Dallas Stars season delayed.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/nhl-delays-start-stars-season-six-players-test-positive-covid-19/