Mark Madden: NHL's plan to restart season could work in Pittsburgh

As with any plan for any sports league to resume or start, it’s not to be believed until games are underway. Crazy schemes aren’t constructed with concrete.

That said, the NHL’s latest restart plan sounds OK.

The NHL ditched the notion of stationing pods of teams in far-flung locales like Saskatoon and North Dakota. The league instead would use three or four NHL rinks in cities that aren’t hit too hard by covid-19 and have plenty of practice ice. Arenas with more than one big-league tenant won’t be used. The biggest cities won’t host: If the virus returns in force, those are likely targets. Three games per day get played in each city.

Pittsburgh and PPG Paints Arena are reportedly under consideration. UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry is an ideal practice facility and could host games in a pinch. The partnership with the Pitt Medical Center is a big plus given the circumstances.

It’s wise to use NHL rinks because they’re already set up for television and replay. NHL rinks also have ample locker-room and storage facilities.

Locker rooms, of course, would have to be thoroughly disinfected as teams move in and out. Perhaps some fraction of the 4.4 million Americans who filed new unemployment claims last week could find work disinfecting NHL locker rooms.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman discussed this latest plan. While reading somebody’s vibe is all but meaningless, Bettman seems dedicated to finding a way.

It will be interesting to see how the details of the plan shake down, as well as the timetable. If play resumes in July, does the 2020-21 season get pushed back? What about the NHL Draft, currently scheduled for June 26-27?

There has been talk of holding the draft as scheduled. If the NHL resumption doesn’t go right to the playoffs, how would the draft order be determined if the regular-season standings aren’t final? What about conditional draft picks? Team B might see a choice acquired from Team A taken a round earlier depending on where Team A finishes. But the league won’t be finished.

A bunch of trades usually are made at the draft. That couldn’t happen.

No team would be at a disadvantage in terms of preparation for the draft. NHL GMs have to multitask all the time.

Having the draft before the resumption might put fans on hockey alert. The NFL has done well maintaining its usual timeline where possible.

There are lots of details to iron out before the resumption, not least those dictated by science. Testing would be frequent, and the teams quarantined at hotels. What happens if a player tests positive? Can play continue? Is it sufficient to test everyone he’s come in contact with? Rosters might be expanded given the situation.

If four cities are used, it’s easy to imagine one division based in each city. The original schedule gets abandoned. Teams play within their division until a determined number of games are reached: preferably the standard 82 per team, you’d think.

Then the first two rounds of playoffs stay within the division, as usual, and at that city. No team travels until the conference finals. Depending on when play resumes, best-of-five series might be used until the conference finals, best-of-seven thereafter. (If the restart goes straight to the playoffs, take 10 teams per conference and play a preliminary round: The bottom four seeds in each conference get trimmed to two via best-of-three series.)

There would be no fans, of course. Would any division be based in the city of a team that plays in that division, which gives that team home ice every game? Does home ice mean anything when the rink is empty, and all the teams are isolated at hotels?

Would the players accept this plan? Would they be willing to be quarantined away from their families for at least a month and potentially 2-3?

That might be a problem with baseball players. But it’s rare when a hockey player is a big-time prima donna. Hockey players show up for work.

If bets were placed on this plan’s viability, the odds seem less than 50-50. But the NHL can’t disappear indefinitely. The league is hemorrhaging money at it is. Resuming the season and playing to a conclusion might be like slapping a butterfly stitch on a shotgun wound, but it’s worth a try.

This plan is preferable to ditching this season and planning for the next. What if the virus forces that season to be abandoned, too? Assume and utilize the smaller window.

Optics is a problem. No sports league wants to be the first to resume/start, save the NFL because it’s the 600-pound gorilla. But the NFL isn’t scheduled to play until September. The NHL has to go out on a limb and with a difficult resumption plan on top of that.