Gary Bettman responds to owners asking for a full shutdown of the 2020-21 season
Earlier this week ESPN released a bit of a bombshell, signaling that some National Hockey League owners have hinted that they would prefer there to be no season at all in 2020-21 if fans could not attend games. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we still really have no idea when next season will begin, although the league has stated it is aiming for January 1st (very doubtful). Numerous reports have indicated the schedule would require at least 48 games for the season to take place, while others say the NHL should end its postseason before June 22nd in order to leave all broadcast spots to NBC Sports to present the Olympics.
On Tuesday night, Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser of Pardon the Interruption tried to make sense of the news and made it clear that league commissioner Gary Bettman is unwilling to listen to these owners who are asking for no season at all. Bettman reportedly responded that the NHL cannot afford to cancel, according to Kornheiser.
"No season makes no sense ... What we are seeing now is that if people are dislodged from their programming habits, that is to say from their viewing habits, they can be permanently. Does the NHL want to take this risk?," said Kornheiser.
Wilbon and Kornheiser actually couldn't believe some owners would even be serious about the suggestion of cancelling the entire season and are stunned that a decision has yet to be made on the start date of the next season, as the NBA aims for December 22 as a start date. They think one of the scenarios going around, the four division option, including the all-Canadian division, is the best way to ensure that a season takes place. Meanwhile, fans continue to wait.
Source: Habs et LNH
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Filip Forsberg | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Adam Gaudette | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| David Perron | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brady Tkachuk | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Artem Zub | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Ridly Greig | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jonathan Marchessault | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Shane Pinto | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jake Sanderson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Thomas Chabot | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Claude Giroux | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Matthew Highmore | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Vinnie Hinostroza | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Roman Josi | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan O'Reilly | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tim Stutzle | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mike Amadio | - | - | - | |
| Drake Batherson | - | - | - | |
| Anton Forsberg | - | - | - | |
| Kevin Gravel | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 54 | 37 | 14 | 3 | 77 | |
Capitals | 52 | 34 | 11 | 7 | 75 | |
Stars | 52 | 34 | 17 | 1 | 69 | |
Oilers | 52 | 32 | 16 | 4 | 68 | |
Hurricanes | 53 | 32 | 17 | 4 | 68 | |
Golden Knights | 53 | 31 | 16 | 6 | 68 | |
Panthers | 54 | 32 | 19 | 3 | 67 | |
Wild | 53 | 31 | 18 | 4 | 66 | |
Maple Leafs | 52 | 31 | 19 | 2 | 64 | |
Avalanche | 54 | 31 | 21 | 2 | 64 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||