FORT WALTON BEACH, FLA – Ever since the Tampa Bay Lightning finished off the Dallas Stars to complete its search for its second visit by Lord Stanley’s Cup, hockey fans have been chomping at the bit waiting for a plan to open up the 2020-21 season. After all, in a “normal” year, the next season would be starting right around October 1st for the NHL and soon thereafter for the minors.
But 2020 has been anything but “normal” – and it may not be for a while.
When the NHL made the decision to push the opening of its upcoming season to January of 2021, it looked like the AHL, ECHL, SPHL and FPHL might follow suit. That plan made a lot of sense because as goes the NHL, so goes the rest of professional hockey. However, in the space of four days, two of those minor leagues stepped up and announced two radically different approaches to getting their campaigns underway. The question is whether either idea will work and will there be long term affects.
The first league to enter the fray was the single-A SPHL. Known throughout its history as a circuit not afraid to think outside the box and try new things, the SPHL has grown into a quite healthy 10-franchise league with homes as far north as Moline, IL (Quad City Storm), as far south as Pensacola, FLA (Ice Flyers) and as far east as Fayetteville, NC (Marksmen). There is a lot of travel involved but the league has made it work and the fan bases are some of the most loyal in the sport.
Using Pensacola as a base point, the drive to Moline is 982 miles, Peoria is 888 miles, Roanoke is 763 miles and Fayetteville is 695 miles. The Ice Flyers shortest drive is to Birmingham, AL at 255 miles. All told, only three trips that Pensacola takes are less than 400 miles long. That is a lot of gas.
A lot of the problem for the SPHL is out of the league’s control. With teams spread over multiple states, each franchise is subject to state and local guidelines – and those guidelines are as varied as one can get. The most restrictive rules are in the northern states, making it hard for those teams to get a handle on when they could play let alone allow fans to attend games in the numbers needed to create the revenue needed to fund the franchise.
Still, the league had to make a decision on what to do. The powers that be put their heads together and on October 6th, the SPHL announced a bold idea. Instead of going all in with all ten teams, waiting until after January 1st or crashing the entire season, the SPHL decided that five of its teams – Birmingham Bulls, Huntsville Havoc, Knoxville Ice Bears, Macon Mayhem and Pensacola Ice Flyers – would play while the ones in more restrictive areas – Evansville Thunderbolts, Fayetteville Marksmen, Peoria Rivermen, Quad City Storm and Roanoke Yard Dawgs – would sit out and resume play in the fall of 2021. The season was shrunk to 42 games – down from the usual 56 – with a postseason format to be announced at a later date. The regular season is expected to begin on December 26th, a day late but certainly a Christmas present for hockey fans.
Limiting the participating teams to the ones in southern states, creating about as close to a “bubble” like the NHL used for its play-in games and playoffs as could be fashioned with travel of up to 505 miles (Pensacola to Knoxville) involved, is on the surface a brilliant move. However, what becomes of the other five teams that sit out.
There is also a question about rosters. Although the SPHL uses a number of players signed by teams, the league does benefit from a trickle-down when the AHL and NHL assign players to the ECHL. The assignments cause displacement of players at the double-A level with many of the released players signing with SPHL teams.
Historically, teams that essentially “go dark” for a season or more never return because of any of a myriad of problems. With no revenue coming in, or in a worst case scenario having to refund season ticket money, sustaining the operation needed to keep a franchise functional – especially in small markets – is difficult at best and near impossible at worst. It would take a combined effort between the league, teams and communities to make sure everyone comes thru the darkness back into the light.
A few days later, the ECHL jumped in with a plan to get its 20-21 campaign kickstarted. The double-A circuit shares several of the same issues the SPHL was dealing with such as travel. It does have quite a few other challenges which will be outlined shortly.
The ECHL and its member teams came up with a plan that is just as creative as the SPHL. Based on restrictions, it was decided that the opening would be done in two waves. The first would include 13 teams and start on December 11th. The list of December squads includes Allen, Florida, Greenville, Indy, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Orlando, Rapid City, South Carolina, Tulsa, Utah, Wheeling and Wichita. Those teams would be given a traditional 72-game schedule.
The second set of teams – Adirondack, Brampton, Cincinnati, Ft. Wayne, Kalamazoo, Idaho, Maine, Newfoundland, Norfolk, Reading, Toledo and Worcester – will begin their seasons on January 15th. They will be handed a shortened 62-game schedule that will require approval from individual jurisdictional approvals. The final ECHL team, the Atlanta Gladiators, elected to voluntarily suspend operations for the 20-21 season.
Per the official announcement, the ECHL regular season will run until June 6th with a postseason to follow. What format and how long the playoffs would be has yet to be announced beyond a winning percentage metric for standings determining who qualifies. (Reporting over last weekend quoted a league source that the hope was that a champion would be decided by July 3rd, just shy of a month after the end of the season.)
As stated above, the ECHL has a number of issues that still need to be addressed. A very huge one is the border issue. With both Brampton and Newfoundland being based in Canada, the league needs an open border for two-way travel to occur. If the U.S.-Canada border remains shut, the Beast and Growlers may not be allowed to cross over to come south while U.S.-based teams may not be allowed to go north. An issue like this occurred in Major League Baseball when the city of Toronto would not allow the Blue Jays to enter the U.S. nor let American teams visit Toronto. The resolution ended up with MLB having the Blue Jays play its home games in Buffalo, NY at a beefed-up minor league stadium.
If one looks at the breakdown of teams opening in December, there is a commonality of being from states that are “open” or less restrictive. The ones starting in January are from areas that still have restrictions with the hope that the extra time will help conditions improve. There is also a hope that the border issues for Brampton and Newfoundland will be resolved by then.
From a roster perspective, the staggered start could be either a blessing or a curse. The ECHL teams with December games will be largely built with players specifically signed for that level of play. When the NHL and AHL are ready, they will be assigning players to the E, meaning that jobs will be lost by the players who have begun the year on the roster. Conversely, the teams opening in January will have time to calibrate their lineups from the get go, which could be a competitive advantage.
Both leagues have made allowances for players on teams that are not playing. The players will be allowed to be signed as free agents for this season but will revert to their former teams prior to the 21-22 season.
There are two items that have yet to be discussed. First is the overall state of hockey across the world. With so many leagues closed down, the number of players available for coaches to choose from at all levels is huge. Yes the talent will probably go up but if the NHL and AHL affiliates are not preemptive with assignments, the roster change could be a killer.
The second point is how to handle players who do not feel comfortable enough to play. The “opt-out” choice is an easy one to deal with at the highest level where they can let players stay home and still get paid. In the minors, teams do not have that luxury. The ECHL has a players union – the PHPA – which will have to hash out the details with the league and its owners/teams. The SPHL is non-union so the players will have to trust the league and its owners to do right by them.
Once that is done, the question will be how many players will choose to “opt-out” and will it have an affect on their future careers. Naturally this will play into how coaches go about building rosters heading into training camps.
There is one more thing to consider: the fans. The pandemic has been rough on everyone but none more so than the fans. For season ticket holders, they live and die with their favorite team and players. Knowing that a season is still two to three months away after an agonizing spring and summer has been brutal. When the ECHL and SPHL (not to mention AHL and FPHL) seasons begin, no one knows what kind of attendance will be allowed into buildings. For the most part it is expected that the crowd sizes will be limited to a much smaller percentage than normal and of course be socially distanced with upgraded safety precautions. Will the game still hold its attraction or will it be a shadow of itself?
No one knows for sure about anything except for one thing: whether it be for financial reasons or for emotional or moral support, minor league hockey needs it fans. Let’s hope that these daring moves by the SPHL and ECHL give everyone what they want.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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