2021 NHL Season

Well, as we have the upcoming outdoor games as all of Canada thoroughly enjoys the All-Canada play in that division, I notice a lot more postponements due to COVID despite all the measures taken.

And I notice more now in Premiere League in Europe for soccer.

Hmmm...I thought by now these numbers are supposed to be going down and there would be less risk of postponements.

I feel less assured now than I did December though I was not amongst those high on euphoria in December when the vaccines were announced such that herd immunity would happen in the summer in many places.

What gives? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

What gives? … me before us … selfish players, or their family/significant others, not doing what is needed to stop the spread of Covid, and/or exposing themselves to (a) other people who themselves have been selfish in not doing everything they can to stop the spread of Covid or (b) people trying their best who were exposed to selfish people.

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And this is exactly what leads to a point and some questions.

If it is largely because the players are selfish, which certainly is plausible because the contagion would take the irresponsibility of only the small few, what do you think the fans will do?

Well the answer is already down here in the US, and irrespective of sporting venues, in the states with the least amount of controls and anti-maskers and the like. Those states have the highest infection rates be they sparsely populated or larger such as Tennessee, which is the top state with a larger population for infection rate.

Or is there something else being missed here that even the doctors do not know?

I submit it’s the second factor at this point. The spread is slowed down by many measures, but not by all and some of the measures clearly don’t matter and are not working much as did not those lockdowns in some of North America and especially in Europe. I do not think even the doctors and other medical experts know enough to solve the mystery here.

Lockdowns only work as well as the people adhere to them … I see people walking around grocery store with their mask not covering their nose, not even doing the minimum required

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I disagree on the point that lockdowns work well at all though do agree lesser measures not taken, as the evidence shows, lead to far worse infection numbers and consequences. Lockdowns lead only to onerous costs, and ask Europe if they worked a year ago. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Various measures are not doing the job in the NHL and Premiere League and it’s not all those selfish players.

And the lockdown enforcement in Europe was far stricter than in North America with heavy fines and imprisonment. By late summer they did not work and any progress was erased, and it’s not because people were traveling freely such as in the US - they were doing so only with restrictions as well.

Lockdowns are not the winning approach here all things considered.

If virus were far more contagious than it is, certainly, but this is not radiation it’s a virus from which most recover after illness that is often far more than the flu.

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Beyond those who die, which is horrible enough, there are survivors who suffer long-term medical effects … IMO almost anything is worth trying to stop this thing

In a normal year we lose as many as 8,000 Canadians due to the common flu / influenza
Last year we lost 15,000 Canadians due to covid

The death toll is nowhere near as bad as what many seem to believe
Half of the covid deaths would have died anyways even without covid

As for long term effects;
A) vast majority of those who had hospitalizations had multiple pre-existing conditions
B) how would you (or anyone for that matter) even make a claim about long term effects??? Noone has had it long term yet so there is zero medical evidence for cautionary fables which is all they are at this point

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Ontario like other provinces and states have not been accurate nor responsible with stats .

“The mortality data sent to the Ministry and reported in (Ottawa Public Health) dashboard/reports represents the number of Ottawa residents with confirmed COVID-19 who have passed away,” an Ottawa Public Health spokesperson explained via email. “It does not indicate if COVID-19 was the cause of death, and we can’t make that inference.”

The daily pandemic death counts in Ontario include people who have tested positive for COVID-19 but have not necessarily died from the virus.

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The Arizona Coyotes have clearly leap frogged the Senators as the most dysfunctional organization in the league

Strang: Coyotes' culture 'not a healthy one' as new allegations surface - Sportsnet.ca

Athletics' writer Katie Strang wrote a pretty grim article on the state of the team's internal culture, finances and possibly sexual harassment allegations. Here's the team's reply

https://twitter.com/wyshynski/status/1361775543591464961?s=20

Starts a war of words in the media on an article behind a paywall and now brings more attention to it

What a gong show

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Pro-rate that for the 2.5 months of 2020 that Covid was not ubiquitous (to get an annualized comparable) and it is almost 19K … but dying alone in LTRHome or hospital isn’t horrific if they might have died, at some point in the near future anyway … but IMO ANY preventable death (if true best efforts were made by individuals and government to prevent spread) is tragic.

I did not mean to imply that there are always or often long-term effects (hence “come”) but there are what I accept as credible reports regarding possible long-term effects (e.g., Mayo clinic) and I would prefer to factor in those effects when discussing prevention efforts than wait a year, 18 months, etc. and look back and regret that more wasn’t done … but that is my perspective.

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It may even be bad enough to force Bettman AND the BoG (GB does nothing on his own) to abandon the market if that is the only way to bring proper ownership onboard.

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Yup. This what happens when they’re so desperate that they had to ‘sell’ the team to him for about 300 million, less than half of what Seattle is paying.

Andrew Barroway was on the verge of throwing the keys on the table a couple of years ago. Hence he still owns 5% so he can really be made whole once Meruelo done with the market

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I know alot of anti-Covid types claim irresponsible but the system has always worked like that
Every other year in history we estimate as many as 8,000 flu / influenza deaths
Vast majority of them are untested and figures are based on modelling systems

The same systems that are making covid projections this year
Its not like anyone has re-invented the wheel
Its the same system that has been in place for decades

The only diff this year is certain peoples overreactions to the models and the news frenzy to print EVERYTHING (pro or con depending where the paper stands ideologically)

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I am deeply suspicious ANY of these covid deaths were preventable
Numbers vary by source but even in best case scenario 90% of the dead had 2 or more serious health issues at time of death

We have only lost a few hundred non-LTC deaths in the entire country, and those under 50 you can count on your fingers

Again we hear doom and gloom regarding long term effects but the same thing happens with other similar sicknesses (eg flu / influenza ALSO causes issues with heart, circulatory, asthma, diabetes etc)

Covid really is nothing more serious than a terrible flu season
Its the worst year many of us have lived through but its not any of the insanity people claim (pandemic, bio weapon, huge conspiracy, etc)

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if covid is so far not so worse than the flu, it is only because of all the steps we have taken to fight it as opposed to normal. Can you imagine if we took no more prevention than we do for the flu?

Seriously?
Every single long term care facility in our country has been decimated
Easily 90% of the deaths are related to LTC

We have a few hundred cases (many of them travel related) that are not linked to LTC

If there were no lockdowns even doubling the death count we have what, an extra 200 deaths country wide?

We lost more Canadians for non-covid lockdown related reasons last year (eg 50% increase in Opiod deaths blamed on lockdowns)

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Not NHL related

ECHL's Brampton Beast ceases operations - TSN.ca

It was the 'AA' affiliation of Tampa Bay, Ottawa and Montreal at one point.

Unless they we're a Lead affiliate, I don't think an ECHL team was ever viable. Covid just accelerated the inevitable

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COVID19 and the snow storm is affecting the Dallas Stars’ schedule. They may not complete 56 games schedule

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Though this is John Shannon's opinion he is pretty connected with the league office and was the first person to say Meruelo was going to buy the team in the first place.

If the team really has been on the market for 6 months no wonder why he has not signed a long term lease despite owning the team for 18 months now.

This was a lack of due diligence due to being deparate for an owner here. Meruelo is clearly not the right person.

The league is fortunate to be in a pandemic has there really isn't a suitable place to move the team right now. He mentions Houston and Portland as being possible landing spots (not specifically for the Coyotes) but both have their obstacles.

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There would be no obstacles for a move to Houston. The owners that own the Rockets and the building stated that it is open to have a NHL team as a tenant. Houston is a top 10 TV market in the US. Bettman would be crazy to not relocate a team there, but he wants the expansion fee money instead.

Kansas City is another alternative. Brand new building with no pro team playing there. A natural rivalry for the St. Louis Blues.

I think the the NHL’s experiment in Phoenix is coming to an end. Bettman should cut his losses and move from the city

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