Tweetmail No. 240: Hub Cities, Playoffs & Next Season

Hello and welcome to Tweetmail, a regular feature on Hurricanes.com in which I take your Twitter questions about the Carolina Hurricanes or other assorted topics and answer them in mailbag form. Hopefully the final product is insightful to some degree, and maybe we have some fun along the way.

This was supposed to land on Wednesday, as usual, but it was a newsy week with lots of questions to tackle. So, let's get to it.

How will they decide which teams will play in which hub city? - @mynameisyork

Two hub cities will exist. One will house the 12 Eastern Conference teams, and the other will house the 12 Western Conference teams. Each hub city will provide secure hotels, arena, practice facilities and in-market transportation for the teams. There won't necessarily be a hub city in the Eastern part of North America and one in the Western part, either; it could be any two of these 10 cities still under consideration: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto or Vancouver.

A decision on the two hub cities

is likely to be finalized in the next month, and it will be based on a number of factors, including COVID-19 pandemic conditions, testing availability and local government regulations.

Do you think it's fair that a hub city could be the home city for one team? I almost think it would be better to have hub cities be teams that are out so that there isn't a home advantage for the host team. - @LongSwimmer1

I don't think there would be a competitive advantage one way or the other. Say Las Vegas is a hub city, as seems to be likely given the abundance of hotels nearby the rink. The Golden Knights would still have to quarantine in a hotel like the other 11 Western Conference teams in that city. Plus, when games are played at T-Mobile Arena, the building will be empty, so their home-ice advantage - and they have one of the biggest in the league with the crowd and energy in that place - is a non-factor.

With all that being said, it does sound like the league is trying to avoid placing a team in its home market in order to ensure as much competitive balance as possible.

With Pesce having a 4-6 month timeline, any way or chance he could play in the playoffs? - @WTaylorA86

There is indeed a chance the Canes could have Brett Pesce back in time for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Who would have thought, in early March, that would have been the case?

With a shoulder surgery recovery timeline of 4-6 months, Pesce could be healthy "sometime probably in the middle of August,"

President and General Manager Don Waddell said

. Will that be in time for the start of the Canes' Qualifying Round series against the Rangers? Maybe. Maybe not. It all depends on the timing of Phase 4.

Imagine having both Pesce and Dougie Hamilton back in the mix on defense. Whew. Watch out.

Will Morgan Geekie be a part of these playoffs? - @flive22

Rosters will expand when the league returns to play, reportedly up to 28 skaters plus unlimited goaltenders (Dave Ayres, anyone?), and I could certainly see Morgan Geekie being in that mix. He made quite the splash in the NHL just before the pause, scoring two goals (plus an assist) in his NHL debut and adding another in Detroit. His style of play fits right in with the way Rod Brind'Amour wants his team to play.

"He's great, what he's doing. He knows how to play," Brind'Amour said after the Canes' 5-2 win in Detroit. "He's got some skill. He can rip the puck. He plays with a little bit of passion and desire. That's what you need to have at this level."

Will the 2020-21 season start on time with the unexpected time off during the pandemic? - @sec137seat15

The very earliest the league could enter into Phase 4 of its return to play plan would be late July or early August. With that in mind, plus the very abbreviated offseason that would follow, I think it's a foregone conclusion that the 2020-21 regular season will not begin in early October, as is typically the case. Instead, we could be looking at a December 2020 or even a January 2021 start date. In fact, earlier in the week, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman floated the idea of kicking off the season with the Winter Classic.

In any case, the league intends to play a full 82-game slate in 2020-21. Some yearly events, like All-Star Weekend and the bye week, are likely to drop off the schedule, and the end of the regular season might stretch into May.

Any idea if the Stadium Series game will still be played next season, whether the date might change, or what the jerseys for the game could look like? - @MrCaniac22

The

2021 NHL Stadium Series

, slated for February 20 at NC State's Carter-Finley Stadium, is still about nine months off, and as of right now, the Hurricanes and league are proceeding as if the event is still happening.

Waddell said he had three conference calls about the Stadium Series last week, with topics ranging from jerseys to corporate sponsorships to ticketing.

"We're moving forward right now that it's going to happen," he said. "Until somebody tells us differently, we're going to continue to work to put this thing together and showcase Raleigh and the Triangle area as best we can."

As far as what the jerseys for the game could look like, I'm not sure! Adidas likes to get creative and think a bit outside the box for the Stadium Series - just look at the kits the Kings and Avalanche wore this past season. So, I wouldn't be surprised to see something a little different.

How do you think Free Agency will be impacted/handled now that the season will continue past the July 1st date? - @xLittleCaitlinx

Contracts for the 2019-20 season are set to expire on June 30, but a conclusion to the 2019-20 season wouldn't start for at least a month after that. Common sense is to simply slide those expiring contracts through the end of the season, whenever that may be. Hopefully, that's a reasonably easy detail to hammer out between the NHL and NHLPA in the next month.

The beginning of free agency, typically noon on July 1, will then be pushed to a date later in the calendar year. Because of the return to play format and the intent to play a full 82-game schedule in 2020-21, the "offseason" is going to be truncated quite a bit, and there's going to be a good bit of activity in a relatively short amount of time. Free agent frenzy, indeed.

What are 5 "attractions" you'd like to see added to or around PNC Arena before 2029? - @theREALtern

Great question. After

news of the lease extension

hit on Thursday, Waddell mentioned this in regards to PNC Arena renovations: "It's a great building, it's clean, and it's been kept up to date as much as we can, but we just need some of the new amenities that new facilities offer. That's something we've been talking about for quite a bit of time now."

So, thinking out loud …

1. Event-level premium space(s): This is a popular amenity in new buildings. Little Caesars Arena in Detorit knocked it out of the park here.

2. Rooftop bar: A bar on the roof on the south side of the arena would be dope and enhance that plaza space.

3. More development in the immediate area: Make the arena more of a destination with bars and restaurants and the like in the surrounding area.

4. In-N-Out: Hey, I can dream, right?

5. And, because PNC Arena itself mentioned it … why not?!

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More questions and more answers coming your way soon!

If you have a question you'd like answered or you have an attraction you'd like to see in or around PNC Arena, you can find me on Twitter at

@MSmithCanes

, or you can

drop me an email

.