Sunday notes: If NHL bubble hockey schedule returns, Colorado Avalanche is potential host team

Everybody around the game of hockey hopes we can have fans in the stands again soon. There’s just no way the NHL and other hockey leagues can go too much longer without paying customers. Not just for tickets, but paying to park, paying those very reasonable arena concession prices and those even more modestly priced jerseys at the arena team store. But the NHL is already trying to game-plan for the next season, and unless there soon is a miracle cure for the virus to the point where we can all congregate in big numbers, the reality is we’ll probably have to start such a season without fans. (By the way, filling a portion of the arena with fans like they do in football or baseball won’t be as realistic, because of the games being indoors where transmission is saId to be easier). I’m hearing the Colorado Avalanche is a potential host team for games at the Pepsi Center, should that be the case.

In talking with some people around the league recently, one of the contingency plans on a new season would be for two-week bubble experiences in a few cities, and Denver is on the shortlist as a host. Let’s say the league wants the Colorado Avalanche, Coyotes, Stars and Blues to all play some games against each other. If Denver were selected as a bubble host city, the teams – including, probably, the Avs – would all stay in one medium-sized hotel that would be essentially rented out by the NHL just for their use. They’d all undergo the same kinds of protocol that was used in Toronto and Edmonton and all play their games at the Pepsi Center, albeit with no fans.

Denver is a potentially attractive host city right now because our virus numbers are better than most states and we have a good geographical location when it comes to flight distances from other Western NHL cities.

Again, we all hope these bubble plans are burst. Nobody wants to go through another fan-less NHL experience. But, if the league is as adamant as it says it is about playing a 2021 season, then plans have to be finalized fairly soon – like, a couple of months at most probably.

Some other Sunday notes and links: 

• What’s going on with Tyson Jost and his contract? I’m afraid I don’t have exact answers at the moment, other than to say he doesn’t have one. Well, technically he does; the Colorado Avalanche gave him his qualifying offer to retain his rights, and Jost has the option to sign it or not. Almost certainly, he’ll try for a higher price than that QO offer, but as of now there is no agreement on a new deal. Jost’s agent, J.P. Barry, has not returned a call.
• I’ve seen a report that says Cale Makar’s $2.5 million potential performance bonus for the 2020-21 season could negatively affect the Avs’ cap space – which currently sits at $6.8 million, according to CapFriendly. But you can go over the cap by 7.5 percent with performance bonuses, so unless I’m reading this wrong, Makar’s bonuses really will have no effect whatsoever on the $81.5 million hard cap. As it states on CapFriendly: “Performance bonuses are only paid to the player if they meet the requirements as defined by the bonus. Performance bonuses count against the salary cap; however, a team can exceed the salary cap due to performance bonuses by the maximum performance bonus cushion amount of 7.5 percent of the upper limit.”
• The more I’ve thought about it, the more I like the idea of Devon Toews being Makar’s partner as a “top-2” defenseman on the Avs, and sliding Ryan Graves down to second pairing with Sam Girard. I know Graves and Girard are both lefties, but there have been plenty of high-performing lefty-lefty D-pairs in NHL history. I think Erik Johnson and Ian Cole would make a strong 5-6. Graves played some with Girard last season, by the way, and the analytics were good.
• Toews is a faster skater than Graves, and I probably want a speedier guy playing with Makar.
• The Avs have that $6.8 million in cap space, but don’t forget: Toews is still due a new deal. He has the same status as Jost – an RFA who has a qualifying offer, but will seek more. Toews could get something like $3 million per on his next deal, so the cap number will go down accordingly.
• Vladislav Kamenev has started playing, finally, for his KHL team, St. Petersburg. He has a goal and two assists in his first four games. (Hockeydb)
• Happy Sunday to all.