Leafs season heads into limbo with NHL on pause
TORONTO Just a week ago, the question was being put to members of the Toronto Maple Leafs: Could you imagine playing games in empty rinks, taking into account the fears of the spread of COVID-19?
None could. In fact, some of those players we asked during the Leafs’ trip to California didn’t even want to contemplate the idea.
“It would be hard to believe, especially on the revenue side of things, to think it would be a possibility,” Leafs captain John Tavares said last Thursday at the Staples Center.
Coach Sheldon Keefe didn’t want to touch the subject with a 10-foot hockey stick.
“I can’t (imagine it),” Keefe said. “I don’t really want to deal with the hypotheticals.”
If only the hypotheticals had became reality.
We weren’t contemplating anything beyond that. Media wasn’t thinking that the National Hockey League season could be put on pause, never mind seven days later. Certainly, that idea hadn’t occurred to any of the players.
It became fact at about 1:35 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, when the NHL said it would pause the season, starting with games that night.
After the NHL released a statement, and one that was supported by the NHL Players’ Association, the Leafs released a statement quoting team president Brendan Shanahan.
“The health and safety of our fans, players, staff and media always remains at the forefront of our decision-making as a hockey club and League, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are in full support of the decision reached today by the NHL, its member clubs and players,” Shanahan said. “Like you, we have many questions about what’s to come in the future. We will continue to monitor this situation and will remain in contact with Toronto Public Health, Public Health Agency of Canada and the National Hockey League. We will provide relevant team updates as they become available.
“Our thanks to our fans for their support and understanding as we continue to navigate this very fluid situation.”
The Leafs were scheduled to play host to the Nashville Predators at Scotiabank Arena, one of 10 NHL games on the docket for Thursday.
Plans for a Leafs team meeting and media availability were scuttled and players were sent home; though the Predators’ equipment was piled in bags outside the visitors’ dressing room and sticks were in their usual spot near the door to the arena hallway, no Nashville players were to be seen.
The season hits pause with 12 games remaining in the Leafs’ season, with Toronto in third place in the Atlantic Division with 81 points, three up on the Florida Panthers in the race for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
We’re not going to know for a while, of course, whether Auston Matthews, sitting at 47 goals, will become the fourth Leafs player and first since Gary Leeman in 1989-90 to score 50 goals in a season.
We’re not going to know when — and if — the regular season resumes, or if play resumes, whether the NHL goes straight into the playoffs.