Name: LeBrun: Where will NHL's Canadian division winner play if it can't host U.S.-based opponents in playoffs?
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LeBrun: Where will NHL's Canadian division winner play if it can't host U.S.-based opponents in playoffs?

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Apr 16, 2021A little update on a story I first reported on in early March regarding what happens with the Canadian division winner once we’re down to the NHL semifinals.As I , the idea of the , for example, playing past the second round of the playoffs in nearby Buffalo remains on the table. And given where the COVID-19 numbers are these days in my country, it’s looking less like fantasy and at least like a realistic possibility that this happens.The new wrinkle now is that the NHL will want to put the Canadian division playoff winner in a U.S. NHL facility closer to its semifinal opponent.So sure, if the Leafs happen to come out of the Canadian division and match up with the New York Islanders, then yes Buffalo would still make sense for the Leafs in that case. But if it’s Toronto-Vegas in the final four, then maybe Arizona or L.A. would make more sense for the Leafs? Or if it’s Colorado-Toronto, would Chicago make sense for the Leafs as a home base?Again, whether it’s Edmonton, Winnipeg or Montreal (or Calgary!) coming out of the Canadian division, the league will have a plan in place.Here’s another wrinkle to consider: I’m told whichever U.S. adoptive city the league would potentially choose for the Canadian division winner, it’s most likely that’s their home for the remainder of the playoffs. They wouldn’t move the Canadian team around to another locale if it reached the Stanley Cup Final no matter what the championship matchup is.So if it’s the Buffalo-based Leafs and the in the Final, so be it.Also, keep in mind that the facilities for the six U.S.-based teams that lose in the opening round of the playoffs also become options for the league to examine for the Canadian division winner.Let me stress that the NHL’s priority and preference continues to be having the Canadian team play in its own rink the entire playoffs and discussions with the Canadian government closer to the semifinals will dictate where all that is headed in terms of border restrictions.So much can still change between now and those series, which likely won’t get underway until mid-June at the earliest. Which means the league probably has until June 1 to figure out where this is headed for the Canadian division playoff winner.All signs continue to point to a virtual NHL Draft this summer, albeit with a few wrinkles.The league, I hear, is examining the possibility for a few centralized locations where perhaps some top prospects and their families could congregate for the draft in a socially distant and safe manner.But it’s pretty much a guarantee that as far as NHL front office staff and scouts go, it’s in their own offices in a virtual manner once again.As for the expansion draft, it will be held in Seattle on July 21. Perhaps the can fly in four-to-five players they know they’re taking to be part of the festivities but that would likely be the max. Again, it’s about coming up with something that’s safe and makes sense in this environment.Canadian Olympic men’s hockey GM Doug Armstrong and his management staff of Ken Holland, , , and Scott Salmond are slated to meet again (virtually) at the end of April. They’ve held calls every dozen or so games this season.The long list of players they began working with in the fall has been cut down 20 percent or so since then. The purpose of this season was to take what was an extra long list and cut it down to a number that would be manageable if there’s an orientation camp or get-together before next season.On that, it remains undetermined at this point whether each country will be allowed to hold Olympic camps/get-togethers before next season as was the norm before past NHL-participated Olympics. Certainly, I don’t believe the NHL Players’ Association will allow any on-ice activity at any of these Olympic camps. But it even remains to be seen if teams get together or if all of this is done virtually.You may remember that Team Canada rather famously had some ball hockey activity at the Olympic camp in September 2013 ahead of the February 2014 Sochi Olympics because on-ice was not allowed. I don’t even think ball hockey will in the cards this time around.Back to Team Canada, sometime early next season the plan is to cut down to a shortlist of players where there are three-to-four roster decisions left and Armstrong wants to bring in the coaching staff for those final few player decisions.There are some NHL front office executives I’ve talked to this past week wondering if these double salary retention trades we’ve seen of late are within the spirit of the CBA.The , and deals all required a third party team broker to help make the cap space work for the acquiring team. But the process of seeing the player’s salary retained 50 percent not once but twice has some team execs question whether that’s what the system was meant for at the outset years ago.“Laundering through a second team I don’t think was fully contemplated (when the cap system was introduced),” said one team exec.But the league at this point has no intention to intervene.As one league source pointed out to me, if the league felt those deals were contrary to the spirit of the rule, the NHL could have “disapproved these trades as circumvention.” Obviously, the NHL chose not to do that.Basically, the NHL is fine with it because there isn’t money escaping the system, the cap dollars are all accounted for overall within the system.In a nutshell, the NHL’s ability or desire to intervene on trades push the envelope like this really comes down to whether any of these deals are devoid of “hockey asset” and the reality is that none of those deals presented that situation. The and got a draft pick for their efforts as brokers.So at this point, the league’s head office sees no issue with it.(Photo of , : Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)

Apr 16, 2021A little update on a story I first reported on in early March regarding what happens with the Canadian division winner once we’re down to the NHL semifinals.As I , the idea of the , for example, playing past the second round of the playoffs in nearby Buffalo remains on the table. And given where the COVID-19 numbers are these days in my country, it’s looking less like fantasy and at least like a realistic possibility that this happens.The new wrinkle now is that the NHL will want to put the Canadian division playoff winner in a U.S. NHL facility closer to its semifinal...

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Pierre LeBrun

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LeBrun: Where will NHL's Canadian division winner play if it can't host U.S.-based opponents in playoffs?

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