Morning Skate: A minimum plan for next year

It is Wednesday, my dudes.

Here we are on November 4, 2020, still wondering what the next NHL season is going to look like.

I’m putting this together long before the polls close too, so...MYSTERY. Hopefully Future Me is pleased with the results.

Anyways, back to next season: the league has insisted for quite a while that it wants to play a full slate of games next season.

Most logical people laughed at that idea, given how clear it has been since the summer that in the very best case scenario, the league would be playing a condensed schedule.

Yesterday, ESPN detailed some of the new wrinkles in the league’s plans, including:

• Many owners are determined to get fans in the arena ASAP. ESPN cited the Dallas Stars as a particular example of this desire, and it’s a fair point: the Stars (and Lightning, and everyone else) essentially missed out on all of that bonus revenue that comes with a deep playoff run.
• The players are struggling with preparations for next season, which...yeah. Duh. Professional athletes thrive on routine, and this is the exact opposite of that.
• The leading plan for next season involves four clusters, including one of nothing but Canadian teams, with a 48-game season being the “absolute minimum.”

I feel bad for the people trying to plan this from a logistics perspective, but let’s be honest: these best laid plans can be laid to waste pretty quickly, so it’s probably not a good idea to try to make any plans about when we’ll see hockey.

Hopefully it’s soon.

Today’s highlight

The Red Sox are a dumpster fire and ownership deserves to lose every game next season, but this remains the funniest sport-related moment I’ve ever seen.

Today’s discussion topic

You’re stuck in one of the four bubbles next season. Where do you want to be?