Chicago’s fascinating surge into the five finalists for NHL playoffs hub city consideration has met its end.
The NHL will, in all likelihood, choose Toronto and Edmonton as its hubs, according to multiple reports from TSN and Sportsnet on Wednesday.
Las Vegas — long considered the clear frontrunner because of its many hotels right next to T-Mobile Arena — was ultimately passed over because of skyrocketing coronavirus case numbers in Nevada.
That COVID-19 situation, meanwhile, had become one of Chicago’s biggest selling points to the NHL, with Illinois’ numbers falling dramatically over the past month. But the lack of hotels near the United Center was always a major roadblock.
Both Edmonton and Toronto have relatively encouraging coronavirus situations — Canada has enforced quarantine and travel rules more strictly than the U.S. and benefitted from it —and numerous upper-end hotels in the blocks surrounding their arenas. Edmonton’s Rogers Place, the league’s second-newest arena, even has a Marriott connected to it by skybridge.
The NHL negotiated an agreement with Canadian officials last month that will exempt NHL players and staff from those quarantine and travel restrictions, making Canadian cities far more viable as hosts than they otherwise would’ve been. In the end, both hubs will seemingly end up in Canada.
It hasn’t been determined yet whether the conferences will play in their geographically logical hubs or instead flip-flop sides of the continent, but if the Western Conference playoffs do take place in Edmonton, the Blackhawks would face the Oilers for their qualifying-round series at the Oilers’ home rink.
The effect of that home-ice disadvantage would be limited somewhat by the lack of fans, but it’s still unfortunate for the Hawks.
There was a chance the Hawks themselves might end up with that advantage, after all. The league had previously eliminated Columbus, Dallas, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh and Vancouver from its original group of 10 hub city candidates, narrowing the pool to Chicago, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Toronto.
Chicago officials, including Mayor Lori Lightfoot and State Rep. Mike Zalewski, had publicly campaigned for the NHL to choose their city, citing the economic impact it would bring to struggling West Loop hotels and restaurants as well as suburban sportsbooks.
Edmonton likely won’t have the same familiarity for the Hawks as the United Center, especially when matching up against its home team.
More bad news for Hawks
Wednesday’s NHL news didn’t end with the hub city selections, and none of the other reports were good for the Hawks, either.
The league salary cap will stay flat at $81.5 million the next two years, then rise only barely to $82.5 million in 2022-23, per Sportsnet.
That’s bad for the Hawks in the short-term and the long-term.
Short-term, their many huge contracts to aging veterans — including the particularly regrettable Brent Seabrook one — provide little flexibility, especially with two key young forwards in Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik up for big raises after this season and goaltender Corey Crawford a pending free agent.
Long-term, the Hawks’ status as a high-income, large-market franchise makes them fundamentally disadvantaged by a strict cap.
Additionally, non-NHL players signed to NHL contracts during the pandemic — including the Hawks’ Ian Mitchell — will not be eligible to play in the upcoming playoffs, TSN reported. Hawks general manager Stan Bowman said last month he’s already been operating under that assumption, but its confirmation still isn’t helpful.
