The NHL announced yesterday that two outdoor games will be held in Lake Tahoe this season. Those match-ups will be the Golden Knights vs. Avalanche on February 20 and Bruins vs. Flyers on February 21. These two games will specifically be played at Edgewood Tahoe Resort and both be nationally televised on NBC. Fans will reportedly not be allowed to attend either of these outdoor games, which should be of little to no surprise to anyone considering the current state of the world with the pandemic.
The main reason why I bring this up on CPF Hockey is that the Sharks aren't one of the teams that will be playing in Tahoe this season. I find this somewhat shocking as Team Teal is the nearest NHL team to Lake Tahoe, and their rivalry with the Golden Knights continues to grow more intense. The Sharks are scheduled to face the Blues in St. Louis on February 20, and that won't change (unless one of the teams has a COVID outbreak around that time). At the same time, I understand why the NHL preferred not to have San Jose play outdoors in Lake Tahoe. The Sharks came off one of their worst seasons ever, and the league and NBC fear that having San Jose play there instead of any of the teams that will ultimately play there wouldn't get as many viewers and hurt their revenue potential from these outdoor games. The NHL already took a significant hit in their revenue due to the pandemic and feels as if they can't afford to lose any more revenue this season.
As a Sharks fan, it's disappointing that I won't get to watch them play outdoors in Lake Tahoe this season, but at the end of the day, it's not a big deal or the end of the world. The last time the Sharks played an outdoor game was in the Stadium Series against the Kings in Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara during the 2014-15 season. If the Sharks get another opportunity to play in an outdoor game, that would be great, but if they don't, that's okay too. Right now, it's more important for everyone on the Sharks to step up, have the team bounce back from last season, and get back to the playoffs, which can absolutely be accomplished this season if everything goes right for them.
Lastly, in other news, Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl are 100 percent healthy and in great shape heading into training camp that already began this week in Scottsdale. They both had their 2019-20 seasons end earlier than anticipated due to injuries. I'm really hoping Erik Karlsson can reach his true potential with the Sharks, perform like he did when he was with the Senators for many seasons, and live up to his $11.5 million cap hit very soon, and I know he is very much capable of doing so. As for Tomas Hertl, he recently celebrated the birth of his son Tobias with his wife. He also always has a smile on his face and brings more positive energy to the Sharks, who perform better as a result.
Source: NBC Sports Bay Area/California
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