For “First Call” today, we’re still talkin’ hockey in a bubble.

Just different bubbles.

Forget New Hampshire, North Dakota and Saskatchewan.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed through ESPN.com that the NHL is looking at four NHL host cities as designated locations to condense the league and to restart the 2019-20 season.

No games have been played since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The report states that teams would be split into four designated cities. Almost like NCAA basketball tournament regions.

The venues would host three games per day. The league is trying to find places that have contained outbreaks well compared to the rest of North America, plus satisfactory arenas and practice facilities.

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reports that the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild are early favorites as host teams.

Could PPG Paints Arena be a fourth location? Bettman has said that this doesn’t have to be by division. The arenas in question need to have the locker room space to host four teams at once. I’m not sure if all four at PPG Paints have the “NHL-caliber” specifics and space Bettman is requiring. But the building has hosted NCAA basketball and hockey tournaments in the past.

It also doesn’t have an additional practice sheet of ice. But if Pittsburgh were to be considered as a destination in a pinch, the RMU Island Sports Center, the team’s practice complex in Cranberry, and others in the region could help.

Theoretically, Pittsburgh has contained the pandemic very well. Based on numbers published by TribLive on Wednesday, there had only been 560 cases reported in the city of Pittsburgh and 1088 in all of Allegheny County. The 15219 zip code — where the arena is located — has reported nine positive cases out of 138 tests.

Not bad for one of America’s top 30 metro areas.

However, Tom Wolf is the governor of Pennsylvania. And his recently released standard of less than 50 new cases per 100,000 over a given two-week period may be hard for a region of our size to meet.

Right now, our pacing isn’t bad. But when you see variances such as 73 people in Gibsonia or 44 in Coraopolis, versus six in the 15222 zip code Downtown on Liberty Avenue, that seems like a shaky number to maintain for a region of our size, if we are judging county by county.

At a rate of one diagnosed person per 2,000, we’re talking about very little wiggle room.

Not to mention, the nature of how and why those residents were tested, such as patients in nursing homes or retired and aging population that may not come into the city anyway.

In other words, the city’s infection numbers may be impacted by countywide circumstances that might as well be a galaxy away from PPG Paints Arena, even though the statistics were gathered within the same area of dominant influence.

Not to mention Wolf’s arbitrary and nebulous, color-coded pandemic-threat system he is using to gauge how various regions can open up.

We will use a measured, scientific approach. We will not just be flipping a switch to go from closed to open.

And, ultimately, #COVID19 will set the timeline.

There will be three phases: red, yellow, and green. pic.twitter.com/NahiYrKovo

— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) April 22, 2020

It appears there is a rather large and indiscernible gap between our lockdown state now (red), large gatherings still being prohibited (yellow), and aggressive mitigation orders being lifted (green).

Where does a hockey game in front of (presumably) no fans, with up to four rosters of players in uniform, and about 200 other necessary people in the building fit into that three-tiered system?

No. Seriously. I’m asking. I have no clue.

Look, it’d be great if Pittsburgh can be a host city for the NHL’s return. It’d be more than fun for our region. I’d call it an honor.

And frankly, most of us have shown dedication toward flattening the curve. We’ve honored requests and requirements to staying inside. A large percentage of us have been being patient with state restrictions based largely on the fact that we just so happen to have a much bigger city in our borders five hours away.

Our local businesses deserve the kiss.

I’m not betting on it, though.

Just one other item for “First Call” today …

Sports Illustrated put together a list of overrated and underrated players in the NFL Draft.

It lines up well for the Steelers.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire (RB/LSU), Laviska Shenault (WR/Colorado), and Logan Wilson (LB/Wyoming) are all players on the underrated list. They are all draftees that I have seen “mocked” to the Steelers in the late-first to late-third rounds.

So if they hit the Steelers at pick No. 49 or No. 102 because they have been “underrated,” that’s good news for fans of the Black and Gold.

A Penn State product is on that list, too. Meanwhile, on the overrated list, there is a quarterback and a wide receiver some have tried to drive to the Steelers.

Click the link to find out who they are.

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