Finnish league virus woes offer lessons for the NHL
Build a better buffer.
That should be a health-overwealth priority for the NHL.
As league owners and the NHL Players' Association attempt to clear financial and logistical hurdles to stage the delayed 202021 season, they need to include a scheduling safety net. Whether it's increased restrictions from health officials, or allowing sufficient recovery time from several novel coronavirus positive-test cases and subsequent contact tracing, there must be a flexible plan.
The NHL doesn't have to look far to see what could occur when it commences a shortened season — possibly a 48-game slate starting in mid-January or Feb. 1 and awarding the Stanley Cup by mid-July — if it doesn't set aside at least two weeks to pause and deal with a potential virus outbreak.
The Finnish elite league has suspended its season until Dec. 19 following a rampant rise in COVID-19 cases and stricter government health guidelines regarding indoor gatherings. And on Monday, the QMJHL ceased operations until January as Quebec continues to grapple with the most cases in the country (144,000) and most deaths (7,084) as of Tuesday.
And when play resumes in the junior loop, there will be no fans in the stands. There's also the possibility of a bubble concept should travel restrictions in four provinces that comprise the QMJHL force the league to adjust and safely complete the season.
The trickle-down effect of these decisions could extend to the WHL, which is targeting an early January startup that could be delayed a month.
In Finland, the worst-hit region surrounds the capital of Helsinki, where Vancouver Canucks defenceman Olli Juolevi is training and awaiting playing options, if the NHL season is further delayed.
The Helsinki area was lauded for COVID-19 awareness and low infection rates, but has seen daily cases shoot up from 241 on Nov. 3 to 600 three weeks later. And the following week, daily cases rose by a startling 70 per cent.
The Finnish league pause sent NHL players seeking to be in game shape when the season commences — including winger Jesse Puljujarvi of Edmonton, defenceman Julius Honka of Dallas and Calgary blue-liner Juuso Valimaki — to the sidelines. It's also the second COVID-19 pause for Puljujarvi. A member of his Karpat Oulu club tested positive in October and three games were rescheduled.
The latest season stoppage has also curtailed the development of Canucks prospect defenceman Toni Utunen. The 20-year-old Finn, a 2018 fifth-round NHL draft choice, has one assist in 14 games with Tappara Tampere of the country's elite league.
For Juolevi, this off-season has allowed the projected third-pairing, left-side blueliner for the Canucks to concentrate on training instead of rehabbing. Previous knee and back surgeries hampered his ability to advance the learning curve.
“Ever since we drafted him, he really hasn't had a summer to get stronger and really work on some things with his mobility,” Canucks general manager Jim Benning said Wednesday. “We talked to his agent (Markus Lehto) about playing in the Finnish elite league. But Lehto has a group of his players skating and training over there the last two months and we were just going to see where this whole COVID thing was going to go.
“If it looked like after Christmas and into January that we still weren't playing, he (Juolevi) was going to look for a team then.”
In the 2017-18 season, Juolevi played 38 games for TPS Turku of the Finnish elite loop. He had 19 points (7-12) and picked up plenty of pointers from former Canucks blue-liner Sami Salo, who was a TPS Turku assistant coach at that time. Even back then, he had this to say about a 19-year-old Juolevi:
“He's very poised with the puck, which is a great asset for a defenceman,” said Salo. “When he tries to break out, he doesn't get rattled because he skates well and sees the ice well.
“But he's still a young kid and there's lots of work ahead to be put in to make the jump to the NHL.”
That jump is now more of a step as long as COVID-19 doesn't dictate a disrupted season.
If several positive tests were to occur, varying health directives in seven cities that will comprise an all-Canadian division could make pauses longer than expected.
It's anticipated that any player who tests positive, even if asymptomatic, will have to wait 10 days before returning to the arena and then be monitored in individual workouts for an additional two days.
In addition, the amount of resulting contact tracing to understand where the virus was contracted, and to keep it from occurring again, will be the litmus test for the length of any NHL schedule pause.
The NBA stated that the occurrence of independent cases in its training camps that open this weekend — not spread among players or staff or a small or “expected number” of COVID-19 cases — will not require a decision to suspend or cancel the season.
That's a path the NHL could also follow.