ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The city of St. Louis got used to watching late spring and nearly summer hockey last year, with the Blues winning Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 12. This year it looks like the entire NHL could be experiencing summer hockey and the St. Louis area could become a big part of it.
The latest possible saving grace of the 2019-20 NHL season could be a plan for four cities to each house seven or eight teams to play out their final regular season games. St. Louis Blues president and CEO Chris Zimmerman reportedly told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he would want St. Louis to be a host city.
The plan reportedly would mean teams play out their remaining games only against the teams in the same city as them and it may not necessarily be as easy as separating the teams by divisions. St. Louis has 11 games left, but some NHL teams have as many as 14 games. And St. Louis' remaining games are against teams from both the Eastern and Western Conference.
There would be three games played per day in each host city. The games would likely have no fans in attendance, and players, coaches, team employees and NHL officials would be housed in hotels in the area.
There has been no word from the NHL on if that plan is a true possibility.
However, if it is, St. Louis would seem to have a good case to host. The Enterprise Center just completed a three-year renovation process with a number of professional-grade locker rooms. There's a new practice facility in Maryland Heights – the Centene Ice Center – with four sheets of ice where practices or games could also be held.
And there is an abundance of hotel options in and around the city for teams to use.