Why the NHL playoffs in North Dakota might and might not work

At this point we’ll take any hockey, even the NHL’s proposed move to North Dakota to finish the season. There’s a lot to figure out if that move should happen.

Since the NHL “paused” it’s season on March 12th it’s been almost a full month without hockey. The bad news is that we seem to be no closer to the league resuming play. The good news is that the NHL is working on plans to resume play, with the ultimate goal of awarding the Stanley Cup, with the most promising so far being moving all remaining games to North Dakota.

North Dakota has little to no connection to the NHL, but is a major destination for college hockey and has one of college hockey’s best rinks with Ralph Engelstad Arena. The high quality facility has been called the “Taj Mahal of hockey” and arguably the best non NHL facility in the world. Sadly even with its seating capacity of 11,643 any potential events are likely to be fan less.

The Good: North Dakota Seems All For It

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The government of North Dakota seems to be entirely on board, which is extremely important considering that the arena is part of the state-run University of North Dakota (interestingly enough the arena is owned by the Engelstad Family Foundation). Governor Doug Burgum himself a proponent of the plan. Burgum himself considers the facility better than some current NHL arenas, even if it isn’t up to their capacity standards.

While Burgum said he would welcome the NHL with open arms he never said the NHL had reached out yet. The plan may still be in its early stages and it should be treated as just that; a possibility but not a concrete plan set in stone. If the NHL wants to go through with this plan it works in their favor that North Dakota is willing to welcome and work with them.

The Bad: Can North Dakota Support 16 Hockey Teams At Once?

In this era of social distancing one of the main advantages of North Dakota is its low population density. One of my high school history teachers even had a conspiracy theory that North Dakota doesn’t exist, it’s only in our imagination. Low population density is good for preventing the spread of a virus, but what about the logistics of running the NHL playoffs.

Let’s assume for a second the NHL’s plan to have a 16 team playoff in North Dakota. Does the surrounding community have enough hotel rooms and practice facilities for 16 professional teams? No mention of that has been made, but a quick Trip Advisor search does show 29 hotels within a 5 mile distance of the arena. Whether those hotels have enough rooms, or are up to NHL standards, remains to be seen.

Plus this is only talking about hotel rooms and not training facilities. Assuming only two teams play at a time having the one rink in Ralph Engelstad Arena is enough, but what if the other fourteen teams want to practice? If the NHL decides to go with a one game elimination “March Madness” style format teams could go on a strict schedule. If the NHL decides to go their usual format with multiple game series then there might not be enough ice to go around.

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The NHL is trying to make the best out of a bad situation. Their ultimate goal is to award the Stanley Cup. Any plan that involves a team skating off with the Stanley Cup in 2020 will be considered a success in their book, even if it takes place at a college rink in North Dakota.

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