Should players have the option of not playing?
The NHL is working to iron out safety protocols in order to resume its season and award the Stanley Cup sometime this summer.
A 24-team playoff at two or four hub cities without fans seems to be the most popular idea. If that happens it may push the start of the 2020-21 season into next year. But former NBC and Avalanche analyst Brian Engblom sees a crack in any plan to resume the 2019-20 season before the U.S. and Canada have a better handle on the coronavirus pandemic.
A little more than 30% of all NHL players are from Europe, where COVID-19 case numbers are relatively small in countries like Finland and Sweden. Maybe a guy like Mikko Rantanen — the Avs’ star right winger from Finland — would rather remain home if he doesn’t feel safe in North America?
And what if players such as Montreal forward Max Domi, a
Type 1 diabetic, don’t want to return due to an underlying health issue?
“What if a player from one of the playoff teams says, ‘I’m not doing this. I’m not comfortable. I’m not playing, end of story?” Engblom said in a phone interview from Tampa, where he works as an analyst for the Lightning.
“And what if it’s a key guy? People are afraid and they have every right to be. If you have one player, and maybe he’s a real key player. What do you do? It’s a free country. That person is allowed to say no. These are unprecedented times. How can you make them do anything? What’s a team going to do? Are they going to fine them? You can’t, in my opinion. This is a person’s choice because of an unreal situation.”
NHL players are owed just one more regular-season paycheck, and they will collect that at the end of the month or, for players under contract next season, it will be put into escrow until play resumes. Players aren’t paid in
the playoffs. A players’ bonus for advancing to the Stanley Cup Final is approximately $120,000 for the runner-up and $200,000 for the champion.
Thus, at-risk or concerned players don’t have a huge financial incentive to return this season in relation to what they make during the regular season.
Engblom starred at the University of Wisconsin and played 659 games over 10 seasons in the NHL. He would support a teammate if that person didn’t want to play during the pandemic. And he said the league should, too.
“I’m going to go, ‘Oh man, we’re really going to miss that guy.’ But at the same time, I’m fine with that….You have to do what you need to do for yourself and your family,” Engblom said. “I would not hold it against that guy. You can’t in this kind of scenario. This is not like a guy who has a bad groin or another minor injury and you’re saying, ‘C’mon, just play through it.’ This is different. This is serious stuff.”
Former Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere (2006-2009), now running a Denver financial planning company, foresees hockey at its highest level this summer. But he doesn’t expect next season to begin anytime soon.
“There’s going to be hockey to finish the 19-20 season — I feel confident about that — but the question is, will the ’20-21 season start in 2020 or 2021?” Giguere said in a phone interview. “I don’t see the NHL starting the 2020-21 season if they can’t have fans in the building. Financially, it won’t make sense.
“(Right now), there’s an incentive for them to play because of NBC — NBC with no Olympics. With no Olympics, they could play and fill the Olympic time slots. I think that’s the motivation to play this season.”