Oilers pushing to be a hub city

Tim Shipton lets out a deep breath. A laugh quickly follows.

The Edmonton Oilers senior vicepresident of communications and government relations is pondering a question about how long the team has been working on its bid to serve as an NHL hub city, should the league return to action sometime this summer.

“It feels like months, if not years,” Shipton said. “Time works in a funny way right now. We’ve been deep on this thing.”

That thing is trying to convince NHL, which paused its season March 12 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, that their city is the right spot to host 12 teams as part of a plan to complete the 2019-20 season and award the Stanley Cup.

It could also wind up being entirely out of their hands.

The NHL, which unveiled its return-to-play plan Tuesday that would feature 24 teams if the league is able to resume, announced that Vancouver and Toronto are also in the running along with Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis/St. Paul in the U.S.

The goal is to name two cities, but deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the Canadian government’s mandatory 14-quarantine for anyone entering the country would make markets north of the 49th parallel a non-starter.

“If we’re not able to really get an interpretation of the quarantine consistent with our players’ ability to travel in and not have to do a strict self-quarantine in a hotel room ... we won’t be in a position to use any of the Canadian cities as a hub,” Daly said. “So we’re faced with having to find a solution to that. And hopefully we can.” The NHL said it will wait another three or four weeks before announcing its hub plans.

“We are having various discussions with various different departments in the Canadian government,” Daly added. “We don’t have a resolution there, but it’s an ongoing dialogue.”

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney penned a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday where he encouraged the federal government to deem professional athletes and team staff as essential workers — meaning they would not be subject to a quarantine — similar to what U.S. officials announced late last week.