Leafs prepare for challenges of being road team in Toronto

Despite Toronto being chosen as a hub city for the NHL’s return to play, the Maple Leafs are adjusting to not having full use of their regular amenities.

To level the playing field, the NHL is making distinct efforts to ensure the host teams – Toronto and Edmonton – don’t get full use of their facilities. For example, the Maple Leafs will have to use the visitors’ dressing rooms and converted media room space for games where they’re the “road” team.

“That’s going to be quite challenging,” head coach Sheldon Keefe told Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston on Tuesday. “I think we’ve got enough time next week where we’re going to get that feeling.”

Captain John Tavares said the Leafs won’t have time to dwell on the differences from their normal routine.

“I think for our group, the getting comfortable with being uncomfortable (is important) and dealing with the uncertainties and things that you’re accustomed to or used to, just realizing they may not be there,” Tavares said. “You might not have access to that. We’re the visiting team in our building, there’s going to be no fans.

“It just is what it is.”

The Maple Leafs are the visiting team for their exhibition contest versus the Montreal Canadiens on July 28. Afterward, they’re the home squad for Games 1, 2, and 5, if necessary, for their play-in series versus the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Winnipeg tentatively selected as hub city for potential 2020 CFL season

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Views of the inside of Investors Group Field Wednesday morning. 180926 – Wednesday, September 26, 2018.

The CFL tentatively selected Winnipeg as its hub city if a 2020 season takes place, the league announced Tuesday.

Public health and safety officials in Manitoba must approve the CFL’s COVID-19 protocols for the league to move forward in the province.

“All three proposals – from Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, and Calgary – were excellent and all three would make superb hosts,” CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said.

The CFL hopes to play a condensed schedule that would begin in September. The season was supposed to start in June, but the pandemic prompted an indefinite postponement.

Players, coaches, and staff from all nine CFL teams would live in a protected “bubble” in the hub city that includes hotels, practice fields, and a stadium for games. Manitoba has registered only 366 confirmed or presumed cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday.

Winnipeg’s hub bid received support from the provincial government on Monday, as Premier Brian Pallister pledged $2.5 million in funding if the city gets the nod.

The CFL is still negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement while also seeking significant funding from the federal government, and approval from public health authorities as it advances toward a possible season.

“We are working hard with our players and our teams on each of these fronts,” said Ambrosie.

Tarasenko not picky about bubble life: ‘I just need a bed, food’

St. Louis Blues star Vladimir Tarasenko knows his stay in the NHL’s Edmonton bubble will be only temporary and that he doesn’t need anything too luxurious.

“We don’t go there like for a resort, where we’re expecting unbelievable food service, like five-star summer resort. We’ve going for playing hockey,” Tarasenko said, according to The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford.

He added: “I don’t need much to live. I just need a bed and food.”

Tarasenko and the Blues will set up shop in Edmonton at the end of July, with the rest of the Western Conference joining them there.

It was reported in late June that the hub cities will feature several amenities to appease players and staff. The bubble in Edmonton will reportedly provide players with outdoor and indoor activities such as golf simulators, basketball courts, movie nights, video games, live entertainment, ping pong, pool tables, lounge areas, and rooftop patios.

Tarasenko has been out of action since October after undergoing shoulder surgery.

NHL assigns teams to hotels

NHL players know which hotels they’ll be assigned to upon arriving in their respective bubble cities, and now the public does, too.

The league released hotel assignments to each team, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported on Thursday’s “Insider Trading.”

The Eastern Conference’s top five teams will stay at Hotel X in Toronto, which is located on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds, where there will be a 40-acre campus-like village for the players.

HOTEL X (TORONTO)
Boston Bruins
Tampa Bay Lightning
Washington Capitals
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins

The remaining teams in the Eastern Conference will call the Fairmont Royal York in downtown Toronto home, which is located just outside the bubble. McKenzie notes the hotels will be “fully locked down.”

ROYAL YORK (TORONTO)
Carolina Hurricanes
New York Islanders
Toronto Maple Leafs
Columbus Blue Jackets
Florida Panthers
New York Rangers
Montreal Canadiens

In the Western Conference, the top six teams will set up at the JW Marriott in Edmonton, which is connected to Rogers Place, the Oilers’ state-of-the-art home.

JW MARRIOTT (EDMONTON)
St. Louis Blues
Colorado Avalanche
Vegas Golden Knights
Dallas Stars
Edmonton Oilers
Nashville Predators

The remaining teams in the west will stay at the nearby Sutton Place Hotel, which is about a five-minute walk to Rogers Place.

SUTTON PLACE (EDMONTON)
Vancouver Canucks
Calgary Flames
Winnipeg Jets
Minnesota Wild
Arizona Coyotes
Chicago Blackhawks

Players are expected to travel to their hub cities on July 26, with the qualifying round reportedly beginning July 31.

NHL plans for 3 games per day in each hub city

The NHL plans to schedule three games per day in the two reported hub cities of Edmonton and Toronto if plays resumes this summer, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie.

Games would be played at 12 p.m., 4 p.m., and 8 p.m. local time, though that template may be tweaked slightly due to TV scheduling, McKenzie adds. The six contests would be spread out over a 15-hour window each day due to the different time zones.

The top four teams in each conference are set to play a round-robin tournament to determine seeds one through four for the 16-team playoff. They would play in the 4 p.m. slot, according to McKenzie. Regular-season overtime rules will apply if those contests need extra time.

On Monday, the NHL and players’ association came to a tentative agreement on a four-year extension of the current collective bargaining agreement and return-to-play protocols for Phases 3 and 4. The deal must still be ratified by both the players and owners. That process is expected to take place over the next couple of days.

Training camps will begin July 13, and teams will travel to their respective hub cities on July 26 before the qualifying round of the 24-team playoff starts Aug. 1.

Edmonton selected to host Stanley Cup Final

Edmonton has been selected to host both the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final this summer, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported Thursday.

Though the NHL has yet to make an official announcement, Edmonton and Toronto have reportedly been tabbed as the two hub cities that will host the 24-team playoff if the league returns this summer.

The NHL and the players’ association are working toward a new collective bargaining agreement that includes the return-to-play protocols and remedies for lost revenue due to the league’s shutdown. The hub cities are expected to be made official once that agreement is pending player approval.

Edmonton’s hub-city plan involves a bubble spanning multiple blocks that includes the JW Marriott hotel, the Sutton Place Hotel, and Rogers Arena and its practice facility. A wall will be built around the bubble to help maintain player and public safety, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo.

Training camps are scheduled to begin July 10 under Phase 3 of the league’s return-to-play plan.

Bruins HC welcomes Toronto as hub: ‘We’ve played well’ there in playoffs

Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy wouldn’t mind if Toronto serves as one of the NHL’s two hub cities.

“We’ve played well in that rink in the playoffs, for the most part,” he said, according to WEEI’s Scott McLaughlin.

The Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the past two postseasons, clinching each in a Game 7. Three of Toronto’s last four playoff appearances ended in a Game 7 loss to the Bruins in the opening round, including the 2013 contest in which the Maples Leafs were up 4-1.

Cassidy became the Bruins’ head coach in 2017, and the team owns a 3-3 playoff record at Scotiabank Arena since his hiring.

The NHL’s hub cities are expected to be announced sometime this week, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie. He adds that Las Vegas and Toronto appear to be the front-runners, though it’s still a “fluid process.”

Toronto’s latest proposal reportedly featured players and team personnel living in a 40-acre bubble on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition just outside the downtown core.

The Eastern Conference’s No. 1-seeded Bruins received a bye to the first round of the playoffs and will jostle with the conference’s other top-three teams for seeding while clubs ranked fifth through 12th partake in the qualifying round.

Daly: NHL weighing ‘every relevant consideration’ before naming hub cities

Bill Daly won’t say whether the spike in coronavirus cases in the United States has affected the NHL’s decision-making process regarding where games will be played if the season resumes.

“Every relevant consideration will be fairly evaluated before decisions are made and announced,” the league’s deputy commissioner told TSN’s Ryan Rishaug when asked if the rising virus numbers are causing the NHL to re-evaluate having an American hub city.

Chicago, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles are reportedly the three American locations among the five remaining candidates to host games. Edmonton and Toronto are the others.

Coronavirus cases have been surging in many U.S. states, with the country setting a new single-day national record on Friday with 45,942 cases, according to NBC News’ Nicole Acevedo, Joe Murphy, and Josh Lederman. That number reportedly included more than 8,000 new cases in Florida, along with four-digit figures in Arizona, California, and Texas.

The NHL initially listed 10 potential hubs when the league unveiled its 24-team return-to-play plan in late May. Of those 10, seven were American locations, but Columbus, Dallas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Pittsburgh are no longer being considered.

Canucks confirm Vancouver won’t be NHL hub city

Vancouver will not serve as one of two hub cities in the NHL’s return-to-play plan, the Canucks announced Thursday.

Vancouver’s bid reportedly suffered a setback following talks with health authorities.

Chicago, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Toronto are the five remaining candidates after the NHL tabbed 10 cities as finalists when it unveiled its 24-team playoff plan in May.

It was reported Saturday that the league had trimmed its list to six candidates, with all three Canadian cities still in the mix.

Vancouver had appeared to be one of the leading contenders over the last couple of months. British Columbia’s provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, implied in early May that she was open to the city serving as a hub for NHL games.

B.C. Premier John Horgan said less than two weeks later that he’d had “a wide-ranging call” with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman about the possibility of Vancouver hosting games upon the league’s return.

Hub city talks intensify with Toronto, Edmonton; Vancouver hits setback

Vancouver’s NHL hub-city bid has hit a setback after talks with provisional health authorities, according to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.

The league hasn’t ruled out Vancouver – which has long been seen as a top contender to serve as one of the NHL’s two hub cities for its return-to-play plan – but it has commenced more detailed conversations with Toronto and Edmonton, LeBrun adds.

The league’s contingency plans for when a player tests positive for COVID-19 is a key concern among provincial and regional health officials, according to Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre.

Toronto recently resubmitted its bid to the league, which featured a plan to create a bubble on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds just outside of the downtown core. Edmonton’s reported plan includes an Olympic Village-style setup.

The NHL has said it wants at least one Canadian city to serve as a hub site. With Vegas also in the mix, Chicago and Los Angeles are on standby if none of the Canadian cities end up being viable, LeBrun adds.