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Why are NHL Stanley Cup Final trailers parked outside MSG?

Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning is Friday night. Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final is scheduled for next Wednesday. And yet, via Tom Gulitti of the Bergen Record, the NHL already has trailers for staff with permits for the Stanley Cup Final parked outside of Madison Square Garden:

THE HUBRIS! Obviously the NHL expects the Rangers to Game 7, this being evidence that the fix is in so they can have all the ratings of a New York team in the Final!

Or maybe it’s just procedural. Gulitti notes the same setup was found in Ottawa in 2003 before their Game 7 against Mike Rupp and the New Jersey Devils.

The NHL reached out and explained the early set up, via a spokesperson:

We also have trailers parked outside Amalie Arena right now and will park them outside Honda Center tomorrow.

Local ordinances in NYC and Tampa restrict how many trailers you can bring into each city per day and prohibit bringing them in on weekends. Hence, we had to start bringing them in today unless we didn't want to have them in place until Game 2 in either place.

True to form, here are the trailers in Tampa:

NHL
NHL

So there you go. Blame local ordinances, not the NHL’s insatiable desire to have an Original Six team headline the Stanley Cup Final.

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