Ontario mulls an all-Canadian division

TORONTO — Ontario’s minister of sport says the provincial government is examining how a Canadian division in the NHL might work.

Lisa MacLeod says discussions about the league’s return-to-play plan are being studied by Ontario public health authorities, the province’s chief medical officer of health and officials from Toronto and Ottawa.

She says she expects to join those conversations in the next few days, as will federal counterpart Steven Guilbeault.

There has been talk of a possible realignment for the upcoming season. One option could feature a seven-team all-Canadian division with no cross-border travel. The league has targeted mid-January as a potential start date.

Seven of the NHL’s 31 teams are in Canada: Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. A major issue is travel across the border with the U.S., which is currently closed to nonessential travel.

The Ontario Hospital Association on Thursday asked the Ontario government for a strict four-week lockdown in regions with high rates of COVID-19 positivity that would include Toronto and Ottawa, the two Ontario cities with NHL teams.

Also, the mayors of Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, said Wednesday they want a strict four-week lockdown to begin over the winter holidays to slow the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the Toronto area.

Manitoba chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin doesn’t see the NHL resuming play as a big risk to the public.

“The protocols that they have in place, the frequent testing, the bubble format that they have really possess very minimal risk to the public,” he said.

However, Manitoba acting deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal wants to know if this is a “reasonable, safe return-to-play program.”