The View From Wisconsin
Just a random set of rants from a Sports Fan from Wisconsin.
Monday, January 31, 2005
So When Is It?
Doing some cipehrin' over the past day or two, I came up with the following scenario:
"Happy St. Patrick's Day..."
- The NHL has stated that it does not want to play the Stanley Cup playoffs in July, so game seven of the finals would have to be played by June 30. Unfortunately, the 30th is on a Thursday, so to make things fit the typical NHL scheduling pattern, they'd have to set the last possible day of game seven for June 27.
- Working backwards, you have to assume about 56 days to play four rounds of the playoffs. That would mean the playoffs would have to start on or about May 3rd. Theoretically, the NHL could reduce this by a few days by going to a different scheduling pattern for the first two rounds, playing back-to-back games in a 2-3-2 format series.
- Depending on the number of games in an abbreviated season, you would need (essentially) twice the number of days as games to be played. Thus, a 35-game season would need to start by February 21st; a 28-game season would need to start by March 7th; and a 20-game season would need to start by March 21st.
- A five-round Stanley Cup "tournament" would need to start by April 18th. (The assumed format of a "tournament" would be to have all 30 teams qualify, with Tampa and Calgary getting first-round "byes" and the other 14 teams in each conference playing off to determine who advances.There would also need to be a contingency for the teams eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, as for a "consolation round" of some sort to determine draft order.)
- Assuming 21 days from "tenative agreement" to the first puck dropping on the season, this would mean the following "must start" dates for each scenario: 35-game season - February 3rd; 28-game season - February 17th; 20-game season - March 3rd; Stanley Cup "tournament" - March 31st. Keep in mind, though, that the NHL would have the additional burden of trying to figure out how to pay players for 2005 in the tournament setting, which would mean an additional two weeks to the March 31st figure (March 17th).
- Thus, the "realistic drop-dead" date for the 2005 season is, for all intents and purposes, March 17th.
"Happy St. Patrick's Day..."
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