NHL down to 6 potential hub cities and Vancouver is reportedly a front runner

Slowly, but surely, we’re making our way towards NHL playoff hockey.

Assuming there are no hiccups over the coming weeks, the NHL has announced that two-week training camps will begin on July 10.

It hasn’t been officially announced yet, but multiple insiders have reported that the teams will head to their hub city by July 24 and the play-in round will begin on July 30, after one exhibition game.

From NHL GM's meeting, Post has learned that training camp is set for two weeks, with teams traveling to respective hub city on July 23 or 24 before playing one exhibition game. The Stanley Cup tournament that begins with qualifying rounds is scheduled to begin on July 30.

— Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) June 20, 2020

We don’t know for sure where those hub cities will be, but at this point it’s down to six potential options.

Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Chicago are the American cities in the running, while Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto are Canadian cities still being considered.

Nearly two weeks ago, Rob Fai out of Vancouver and Adrian Dater out of Colorado reported that Las Vegas was in as a hub city.

NHL: Not sure who the other hub cities are but Las Vegas is in. League has venue(s) financially secured as well as accommodation and transportation.

— 𝚁𝙾𝙱 𝙵𝙰𝙸 (@RobFai) June 11, 2020

Heard from someone with a good connection to the league that the hub cities are picked.

They said it’s Vegas for the Eastern Conference and Vancouver for the Western Conference.

So it sounds like Edmonton is not going to get the games.

— Tyler Yaremchuk (@tyleryaremchuk) June 21, 2020

Now, it’s being reported that Vancouver will be the NHL’s other pick, according to Tyler Yaremchek out of Edmonton.

However, other insiders say that Vancouver is the front runner alongside Vegas right now, but Edmonton is still in the mix and amped up their bid in the past few days.

Premier Jason Kenney even took to Twitter with an Edmonton hype video, showing the NHL why they needed to come play games in the Alberta capital.

It’s the obvious choice to bring the @NHL to #Edmonton.

We look forward to welcoming the league and players here to Alberta to take in the beautiful province we have to offer. pic.twitter.com/kp0iN86vCP

— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) June 22, 2020

Unfortunately, his video showed Edmonton for a split-second before transitioning into a full minute of footage of Jasper, which earned Kenney a lot of flack on Twitter.

It’s expected that the NHL will officially announce the two hub cities by the end of the week.