Odds are stacked against the NHL’S playoff plan

A lot could go wrong to keep Stanley Cup champion from being crowned in October

What happens if a player tests positive for COVID-19? That’s the most frequently asked question as the NHL moves closer to a 24-team tournament to crown a Stanley Cup champion for the 2019-20 season.

But it’s only one of the questions hanging over the NHL’S return to play.

The best-case scenario is that teams will open training camp next month — the NHL has set a July 10 date for training camps to open — the 24-team tournament will get underway in two yet to be determined hub cities sometime in August, and we’ll have a Stanley Cup champion by October.

But there are many scenarios that could sabotage this plan.

According to the NHL, one positive test isn’t one of those scenarios. If a player tests positive, the plan is for him to be quarantined. The NHL says it can handle a positive test, but if that happens, there’s no way to know how players, team management or the league itself will react.

And what happens if there is a second or third positive test? Is there a threshold the NHL is willing to accept? The Boston Bruins reported this week that one of their players tested positive as the team began smallgroup training. The unnamed player is the 10th NHLER to test positive for COVID-19 since the league halted play on March 12.

As a player, I would be nervous if a teammate tested positive, because I’ve been around locker-rooms long enough to know they can serve as incubators for a virus. There has never been a team, or a season, that hasn’t seen outbreaks of the common flu.

The NHL says it will take every precaution while building a bubble around the competition. There will be endless tests, limited exposure to the outside world and deep cleaning of facilities, but all it takes is one slip-up.

And, while the players will be in a bubble during the actual tournament, they’ll be in a more relaxed atmosphere during training camp, with more reliance on individuals being vigilant.

It’s important to note none of the plans are set in stone, which is why players, owners and team officials qualify their statements with words like “if ” and “whether.” As the NHL moves from one phase to another, there are ongoing negotiations with the players, who are concerned not only about their safety, but also the effect a long playoff run in isolation will have on their families.

Governments also have a say in how this process will play out, and they could have a negative effect on the five Canadian franchises still in play. Canada has a mandatory 14-day quarantine period for folks coming in from outside the country. That makes it extremely difficult to repatriate players in the U.S. or Europe.

While there’s a ban on non-essential travel between Canada and the U.S., pro athletes have been deemed essential workers, and the NHL will have no trouble finding two U.S. cities to host the tournament.

The Canadian teams in the tournament — Edmonton, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver — have been exploring moving their training camps to the U.S. That would add a month to the time the players will be away from their families and that could create friction. There will also be a push from the players to allow their families to travel to the hub cities.

The quarantine also stands in the way of a Canadian city as one of the two hubs. Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto are on the short list. Alberta Premier Jason Kenny has been lobbying for flexibility in the quarantine to bolster Edmonton’s bid.