What if?
That’s a question being asked a lot right now surrounding every level of the hockey world.
What’s the game going to look like when or if it returns?
It wouldn’t be out of the question to speculate that if the American Hockey League delays its start next season due to the COVID-19 pandemic or if some organizations take a year of absence due to financial instability, it could mean a multitude of high profile prospects might very well find their way back to the junior ranks.
It might sound far fetched, but it’s happened before during the lockout season in 2004-2005.
Could the Benoit-Oliver Groulx’s, Olivier Rodrigue’s, Kevin Mandolese’s Nikita Alexandrov’s Jared McIssac’s and Alex Khovanov’s of the world just to name a few possibly return to the the QMJHL to play out the season?
Can you imagine what the going rate would be for a 20?
Stranger things have happened, but that brings us back to what if?
What if the AHL and ECHL seasons are delayed or some organizations just can’t afford to operate with no fans in the building?
What does that mean for NHL organizations that want to develop their prospects?
The CHL could see a massive influx of high profile players return, but who’s to say the CHL will be ready to go either.
The CHL model obviously needs fans in the seats, but that could all change as well.
There’s so much uncertainty right now, that rumours and speculation are providing hope for throngs of hockey crazed fans in Canada and across North America.
Nevertheless, TSN’s Frank Seravelli wrote a very interesting piece on the AHL’s cancelation and the potential trickle down effect.
As the hockey world scrambles to try to project its future, various levels of the game are coming up contingency plans by the truck load.
The ‘What if’ questions and hope is all that the hockey world is going on right now.
For fans of the CHL, they might be lucky enough to see their young hockey heroes return for one more run at junior hockey supremacy after all.
With all that has transpired with the abrupt end of the season, it might be just what junior hockey needs to get it back on its feet.
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