More than half of NHL players still not back
The National Hockey League were one of the first professional sports leagues to release their return to play plan as they work toward concluding the 2019-2020 season this summer. While optimism remains high that the Stanley Cup can still be awarded this year, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told ESPN in an interview on Monday that more than half of the league’s players have yet to return to their team cities.
“Actually, 56 per cent of our players, roughly, aren’t in the places where their teams play and there’ll be training camp,” Bettman said in the interview with Mike Greenberg on Monday night. “So we’ve got a lot of people to move around and we have to get people back from outside of North America.”
The plan is to have players ready to go for the start of training camp on July 10th, meaning players would have to be back by June 25th in order to be able to participate. Most players will still need to undergo a 14-day quarantine period, which is why it is so important to have players start returning.
The league had decided to go with an increased playoff format that would see 24 teams reach the postseason as opposed to the usual 16. The top four teams in each conference will earn a bye to the second round and will not have to participate in the newly created play-in round. However, the top four teams will still play a round-robin series that will help determine seeding for them. The 24 teams and opening round playoff series have already been announced.
“And I think everybody can feel good, based on the combination of the play-in round and the way we’re going to run the playoffs, that this will be a full competition which will bring out the best in our teams and our players, and the Stanley Cup Champion will be deserving of that crown and the most storied trophy in all of sports,” Bettman said.
The league is planning to play all its remaining games in two hub cities – one for the Eastern Conference and one for the Western Conference. While there have been candidate cities named, nothing has been officially decided. According to reports, the league is looking to make the decision in consultation with the NHL Players Association’s so the players can also feel confident about the locations. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported on Monday that Las Vegas remains a frontrunner, but that could still change as well.
The league also remains in conversations with the Canadian government to get around the 14-day quarantine period, as it is believed Toronto is another strong favourite to host games. Without the cooperation of the federal government though, it would be impossible to play games in Canada despite the plethora of resources and arenas.
“If the players would have to quarantine for 14 days in between training camp and going to the hub, that wouldn’t work,” Bettman said.
Despite all the challenges faced and the issues created as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bettman is happy with how his league has handled the situation and seems excited to get back to playing games again. While there will be no fans allowed in the arenas, at this point most supporters just want to see the game they love return.
“First of all, I’m very proud of the response we’ve gotten from our players. People say typically hockey players don’t speak out,” Bettman said. “But there’s been an awakening, an awareness; and our players have been very active. And over the last couple of decades, we as a sport have tried to do more than ever before to be inclusive and diverse. And it’s clear to us that we need so many other people to have the hard conversations, to be self-reflective, and not just talk about it but really institute programs that will make a difference – not just at the NHL level, but all levels of hockey, so that everybody can feel welcome being a part of this game.”
