The NHL will award the Stanley Cup this season come hell or high water

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman once again reiterated the league’s stance of awarding the Stanley Cup for the 2019-20 season, no matter what.

Since the NHL went on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic two months ago, the league has been looking at various roadmaps back to resuming play sometime this year. From expanding the playoffs to shortened postseason series and hub cities, the NHL is contemplating nearly every avenue of return possible.

That, however, does not include canceling the 2019-20 season outright and forgoing the awarding of the Stanley Cup for the year. For the last few weeks, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and the league’s front office has been adamant about the fact that the league wants to crown a champion for the 2019-20 season.

The topic came up in conversation once more on Tuesday during a virtual town hall meeting for members of the San Jose Sharks’ business alliance. According to The Mercury News, Bettman shot down any talk of canceling the 2019-20 season, stating that it’s “not something I’m even contemplating.”

“I believe that if the right time comes, and the right circumstances, based on all of the options that we’re considering and our ability to execute them, we’ll get this season done,” Bettman said. “I don’t want to sound Pollyanna, but canceling is too easy a solution. That means you stop working hard to do all of the things that we’re doing, and I ultimately believe that there will be an opportunity.”

The NHL’s bullishness on awarding the Stanley Cup for this season no doubt stems from the fact that the league likely will lose $1 billion in broadcast advertising when all is said and done. With the NHL’s revenue sitting at approximately $5 billion, that loss is a major one to the league’s financials, which is not as lucrative as the NBA and MLB are.

Any chance to recoup some of the league’s major losses in the form of playing out the remainder of the 2019-20 season makes sense for the NHL from a business standpoint. However, it remains to be seen just how safe and viable it is to return to play at all this year given the lack of a vaccine, something the MLB is currently grappling with as the league attempts to reopen in the summer.

Not only that, but Bettman has stated that the league has looked into pushing back the start of the 2020-21 season into December, thereby condensing the next season at the expense of finishing the current one in full. It’s an ambitious idea, one that has many flaws, but lines up with Bettman’s statements that the league will do whatever it takes to finish the current season.

With the cancellation of the 2019-20 season a non-starter for Bettman and the league, the NHL will no doubt have to come up with a creative solution — and more than likely get a little luck in the process — to make things work in the league’s best interest.

Follow FanSided NHL for more news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage about hockey in all forms throughout the entire 2019-20 NHL season and beyond.