via TSN,

Earlier in the week on Insider Trader, Dreger noted that there is a growing concern that losses could mount upwards of $1 billion, certainly around $500 million.

Just over three minutes of recent big hits in the NHL.

via TSN's YouTube page,

With everyone wondering what the NHL playoffs will look like when the season resumes, Gino Reda, Ray Ferraro and Craig Button decided to examine the current field. With Button taking the East and Ferarro taking the West, they break down the whole bracket and crown a Stanley Cup champion.

from David Staples of the Edmonton Journal,

There’s no shortage of unknowns about the world, including the smaller question of unknowns about the immediate future of the National Hockey League. But what we do know is that the NHL is likely to take a massive short term hit in terms of revenues, and that this may force the league to do something it hasn’t done since the 2012-13 lock-out: allow for compliance buyouts.

NHL insider Brian Burke talked about this possibility with Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now this week: “I’ve heard discussion of compliance buyouts to help teams get to this new cap, to solve some of their problems. Which they gave in the last CBA, each team got two cap-compliance buyouts which were exempt from the cap. I’ve heard talk of that.”

When a player is bought out under the Collective Bargaining Agreement now, a percentage of his contract is paid out to him over time, and that amount still counts against a team’s salary cap....

Who might the Edmonton Oilers and other teams buy out if there’s a compliance buyout scheme this year?

That will come down to numerous factors, with perhaps the most important factor being the willingness and ability of a team owner to pay out a buyout, then replace that salary on the team. Given the financial hit folks are taking right now, some owners may not be willing to do so.

read on, candidates mentioned...

Wings win 6-3.

from awood40,

Detroit Red Wings @ Atlanta Thrashers. March 20th, 2009. Last ever Red Wings win against Atlanta. FSD Feed Commentators - Ken Daniels & Larry Murphy.

Nice work here by awood40 so click here for complete coverage.

Watch the highlights below too.

from the CP at TSN,

"It's different," Daly said. "It is surreal in a lot of respects, especially coming to New York City during the day, there's not a lot of people here. There's not a lot of traffic. It's really like a scene out of a science fiction movie.

"Important issues are at stake, so everybody wants to do the right thing."

The NHL, which like most other professional leagues paused its season last week, is far down the list of priorities in this new world gripped by the novel coronavirus outbreak that's already killed thousands of people around the world.

There are, however, lots of hockey questions and not many answers in a fast-moving situation.

Daly said the league has been in near-constant communication with the NHL Players' Association, its teams, general managers and medical experts. The NHL also had its first confirmed case of COVID-19 this week when a member of the Ottawa Senators tested positive, and it's safe to assume more will follow.

"Surprisingly very busy," Daly said of how his days currently look in a phone interview with The Canadian Press. "And right now it's all coronavirus-related. I'm hoping to get to a point that I'll be able to turn my attention to some of the other things I need to get done.

"Since we hit the pause button, it's been a full-time job ... all related to coronavirus."

One unknown — and there are many — is what this all means to the NHL's bottom line.

more

I met with my Dr. today and the news is not so bad, yet I was hoping for a little better news.

I will have to undergo treatment to clear up any remains of the polyps I had in my sinus area.

The treatment can wait for at least another month. I am considered a high risk patient due to type 2 diabetes plus my age factors in and they want to avoid and coronavirus coming in contact with me.

I feel okay, would feel much better if our game was back, but I can control only certain things.

I will continue to do what I do and hope this finds all of you in good health.

8 minutes to watch.

via Sportsnet,

Elliotte Friedman joins Lead Off and discusses how the NHL still wants to award a Stanley Cup this season and play a full 82 game schedule next season.

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

There are daily texts with general manager Steve Yzerman and many others in the Detroit Red Wings organization, but little planning, because so much is unknown.

Like everyone else, the Wings are trying to navigate day-by-day in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. No Wings players have reported symptoms, and they have been told to use this week and into next week as down time, like players normally do when their season ends, before resuming workouts.

The NHL paused the 2019-20 season March 12, leaving the Wings to head home from Washington, where they had a game scheduled that night. The league postponed the season in hopes of resuming it (and a report this week said players may be willing to push the playoffs as late as September), even though on Monday the Centers for Disease Control advised against public gatherings of more than 50 people for at least eight weeks....

For now, everything is uncertain. Coach Jeff Blashill said daily exchanges with Yzerman and his circle of hockey operations personnel has focused on everyone’s well being.

“Is there anybody that needs help, are our people taken care of, how do best utilize this time,’ Blashill said Thursday. “Life favors the prepared, so how can we be as prepared as possible for when we all come out of this?

“It’s so fluid that it’s impossible to plan weeks in advance. So daily contact is important, because everything kind of changes. We’re all trying to do the best we can.”

read on