According To Gary Bettman, Chicago Is A Potential Hub City For The 24 Team Playoff

(NBC)--As part of the NHL’s plan to restart its season this summer, the city of Chicago is one of 10 cities that could potentially serve as a “hub city” to help facilitate a resumption of play.

According to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, the league will employ two so-called “hub cities” when play resumes later this year. Each city will house a total of 12 teams, with one city hosting Eastern Conference games and one hosting Western Conference games, according to a plan laid out by the commissioner Tuesday.

Chicago is one of 10 cities that is being evaluated as a potential “hub city,” along with Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vancouver, according to Bettman.

Did the Blackhawks just fall backwards into home-ice advantage? The playoffs were nice. I am at least kind of excited about a potential matchup with Edmonton. And now...every game at the United Center. Absolutely incredible. Haters will be beside themselves. They won't know what to do. They've been saying the Hawks suck for years. Well would a team that sucks have home ice advantage throughout the entire playoffs? I don't think so. 

Bad, BAD day to be Connor McDavid. I really hope this works out. A couple of things to consider here for Chicago being a potential hub

1) It's the best city in the world. 

2) Not only do they have the United Center, but there are also many other rinks near the United Center that could be used as practice facilities for other teams. 

3) World class accommodations.

4) Have you seen Chicago in the Summer?

5) World class everything including hospitals and doctors and whatever else the NHL needs

6) A history of doing a spectacular job hosting major NHL events. 

7) I don't know what else is needed, just put the NHL in Chicago and let's play and let's win another Cup. 

And if this doesn't work out and the Hawks lose then this didn't really count anyways.