‘voluntary’ phases no BIG ConCern
The National Hockey League made it clear to players on Tuesday that the decision to participate in Phase 2 of the NHL’s return-to-play plan and begin skating at their practice facilities was “strictly voluntary.”
And if the NHL manages to get to Phase 3, which is the opening of training camps, participation might also not be mandatory.
“What we will have to do is address that issue squarely in Phase 3,” NHLPA executive director Don Fehr told Postmedia News on Tuesday. “I don’t think anybody will surprised. What I would expect, if we’re lucky enough to get there — the health situation lends itself to doing that — that players will have to be satisfied that that’s the case. I would expect players would play.”
QUARANTINE QUIBBLING
While the Canadian government has designated NHL athletes as essential personnel for the purpose of crossing the border, the league is still working on lifting the mandatory 14-day quarantine for players returning to the country. “We have been dealing with the governments in both the United States and Canada on these travel restrictions and quarantine requirements,” said NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly. “The one issue that we continue to work actively on is the mandatory federal quarantine that’s in Canada for all people who travel into Canada … We don’t have a resolution there, but it’s an ongoing dialogue, for sure.”
ROUND-ROBIN TO REMOVE THE RUST
The decision to have the round-robin determine the seeding for the top four teams in each conference was to ensure that they weren’t rusty when the actual first round of the playoffs began. But it makes the regular season somewhat worthless.
While the Boston Bruins finished with the most points in the entire NHL, they could end up as the fourth seed — and face the fifth seed — if they lose all three roundrobin games in the new post-season format.
“We considered lots of options,” said commissioner
Gary Bettman. “They’re (the Bruins are) going to be getting a bye and they’re going to be facing a team that just came out of a competitive series. And the concern was they needed to have some competition that might not put them at risk in terms of the playoffs and give them an opportunity to play some real games.”
LATE START TO 2020-21 WON’T AFFECT LENGTH
The 2020-21 season will be played in its entirety. But depending on when it begins, it could finish at a much later date, again.
“There’s no magic to starting in October,” said Bettman. “Our buildings, our markets could handle it. We could start in November, we could start in December, we could start at the beginning of January if we have to. We’re going to be playing over the summer this year, so the answer is we’ll get through this season and we’ll make sure there’s enough of a pause before the end of this season and next and then we’ll start up again.”