Play moves north for restart as US struggles with virus

Health experts commend league for playing in Canada

As the National Hockey League tries to resume play and crown a Stanley Cup champion by early October, it is also shifting its operations to Canada. And according to health experts, that might give the NHL the best shot among the North American professional sports leagues to complete its season.

“I don’t know what greater indictment you need of the United States’ response to the virus than the NHL picking up its puck and retreating to Canada,” said Zach Binney, an epidemiologist at Oxford College of Emory University. “That was a smart decision. That was a very smart decision.”

The NHL is unique in its plan to resume play, with its 24-team expanded playoffs to be staged in two Canadian hub cities. The 12 participating Eastern Conference teams will play in Toronto and the 12 participating Western Conference teams will compete in Edmonton. The conference finals and Stanley Cup final will take place in Edmonton.

As of Friday, Toronto reported 14,177 confirmed cases overall with 1,117 fatalities since the coronavirus pandemic began and Edmonton reported 1,202 confirmed cases and 19 deaths. Friday, Canada reported 106,882 cases overall and 8,748 deaths since the pandemic began.

“In both cities the trends are still low and they are low, very low compared to the U.S.,” said Diana Zuckerman, president of the nonprofit think tank National Center for Health Research. Zuckerman also pointed out that Toronto has a mask requirement, bolstering the safety precautions for teams in Ontario.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Saturday that “one positive test shouldn’t shut down the tournament,” but an outbreak could potentially force things to change.

The league considered Las Vegas, Nevada and Vancouver, British Columbia as hub cities, before switching gears and going up north as cases skyrocketed in Las Vegas, and Vancouver backed out of the running in late June. Other cities under late consideration for the summer tournament were Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas. The daily coronavirus death toll in the U.S. increased this week after months of decline, and hospitals in hotspot states are continuing to be overwhelmed.

Meanwhile, other sports have released their return-to-play plans and started workouts and training in the U.S., but have already hit roadblocks.

MLS was the first large-scale U.S. team sport to resume since the pandemic struck, but now finds itself down two teams in Disney World, from 26 to 24, after FC Dallas and Nashville SC were forced to withdraw because of virus outbreaks in their delegations. The NBA is just in the early phases of restarting its season with 22 teams in a bubble-like environment at Disney World in Florida, in which players and staff cannot enter or re-enter without quarantining.

Major League Baseball, which is trying to play a shortened 60-game season, already faced testing issues after multiple teams had to close workouts after delays in getting back testing results. MLB also has a much looser plan than other sports, which includes air travel between cities, and does not have specific rules once players, coaches and staffers leave team facilities.

There are a number of safety precautions in place for those involved in the NHL effort once they arrive in Edmonton or Toronto. When teams reach the hub city, the league will test everyone deemed “club personnel” daily for the coronavirus. Players, coaches and staffers will also get daily temperature checks and symptom screening. The league will also test people who might have direct or indirect contact with NHL teams — like hotel workers — each day.

All players must self-isolate if they test positive for the virus. For those who are asymptomatic, there are two ways out of isolation: They must test negative or spend 10 days in quarantine. If they are still asymptomatic after that stretch, they can return to the ice. Those who are symptomatic face different standards. They must test negative twice, or not show symptoms for more than 72 hours after a quarantine that is at least 10 days.

“Daily testing might seem excessive but as far as I can tell, it does no harm,” Zuckerman said. “Daily testing compared to every-other-day testing ... it does no harm. What harm does it do? It does no harm as far as I can tell.”

Zuckerman added that daily testing is only as good as the accuracy of the tests themselves and the speed at which results are provided. The NHL is working with companies in each hub city to secure testing daily.

Training camps and the process of getting players from their home cities to the hub cities later this month appeared to be riskiest parts of the NHL’s plan, both health experts said.

“The most delicate part of a bubble is getting everyone into it uninfected and I’m sure this is going to be an even more important challenge because they are going to Canada and they don’t want to import infections from the U.S.,” Binney said.

Training camp for 24 teams will start Monday and will run until July 25.

During camp — Phase 3 of the league’s return-to-play plan — players will not be mandated to quarantine away from the rink. Instead, they are strongly encouraged to continue to exercise distancing behavior. Specifically, players and club personnel should continue to stay at home as much as possible, avoid unnecessary interactions with nonfamily members and should not spend social time together in close contact.

NHL clubs will test players and club personnel every other day during training camp and results must be available within 24 hours. Individuals whose results are not received within that time will not be allowed in team practice facilities until they are available. Each team is also required to continue to record symptoms and conduct temperature checks on a daily basis during camp.

Seven days before teams travel to the hub cities, the league has “strongly recommended” that family members limit their exposure to nonfamily members as much as possible and stay home as to reduce potential exposure.

The restrictions tighten when teams arrive in the hub cities via charter planes. During the first five days, individuals “may perform their essential work functions and engage in social interactions only with individuals from their own Club’s Traveling Party, and otherwise, shall remain in their respective hotel room,” according to the league’s guidelines.

However, those rules only appear to apply to off-ice conduct. Teams will be participating in one exhibition game between July 28-30 before play officially starts on Aug. 1 in both cities. Teams will also share hotels with other teams in both hub cities.

“My biggest fear is just what we saw with Major League Soccer,” Binney said.

As Binney explained, in MLS, two clubs appeared to pick up coronavirus just before they traveled. Team members all tested negative before they traveled, but they then tested positive once they got into the bubble and the cases exploded. Those two teams then had to withdraw from the tournament.

Binney said he would like to see the NHL have a longer quarantine period once teams arrive in the hub cities. However, some quarantine time, added with the daily testing for more than just players and coaches, provides a “better than nothing” approach.

“It is kind of the minimum,” Zuckerman added.

Binney said the NHL has done three key things that are important in bringing any sport back amid the pandemic. One, centralization and sequestering while in the hub cities. Two, frequent daily testing for a range of people within the secure zones. And finally, third, the league is not trying to play in the U.S.

“Between those three things, yeah, I’m starting to think the NHL probably has the best shot,” Binney said.