Jackets veterans facing uncertainty
Six players are heading into final contract year
The clock is ticking.
As the NHL and NHL Players’ Association prepare for talks that both sides hope will lead to a plan for the 2020-21 season, the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has returned. It has also placed a spotlight on the finite lifespan of an NHL career, which every player notices more the longer he plays.
The pandemic has already cost players the end of the 2019-20 regular season, along with the usual way the Stanley Cup playoffs are held. Now there are more important questions to be answered, especially for veteran players going into the final year of their contract.
“Obviously, if you’re 22, it’s a little different,” said David Savard, a 30-yearold defenseman who is one of six Blue Jackets veterans facing free agency after next season. “I’m not saying that I’m old, but there’s only a few more years
that you have left. You have five or maybe six years left and you don’t want to waste one just like that, so hopefully we can get back on the ice and play a season.”
That sentiment is likely shared by virtually every other veteran in the league, as time keeps ticking away and the window of their playing careers shrinks. As Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno put it, “Father Time is undefeated,” and that’s a fact every player must face at some point in his career.
But it’s not something they can obsess about, which Foligno also pointed out. Foligno is another of the Jackets going into his final contractual year – along with Savard, Brandon Dubinsky, Riley Nash, Mikko Koivu and Mikhail Grigorenko – and his previous experiences with hockey’s business side have provided a coping method for uncertainty.
“I’m just trying to stay in the moment, which I think is a good lesson for everybody,” Foligno said. “I caught myself doing that early on with this whole COVID fiasco, where you’re just like, ‘Are we ever going to play again?’ and all those things that, really, I can’t control.
“And just through years of experience and learning that I really can’t worry about that, I know that as long as you’re somebody who’s wanted in the league, then you’ll have a job for as long as you want. … Barring any crazy, unforeseen things like a pandemic.”
He couldn’t help but laugh while saying that last part, because what other reaction could a player have in this situation?
Things were progressing as usual, with a month left in 2019-20 for multiple teams to earn a playoff spot. Then the entire sporting world shut down in midMarch because of a virus that is still rampaging across the United States.
The NHL pause began on March 12 and lasted more than four months. The NHL and NHLPA hammered out extensive safety protocols for a return-toplay plan and the season concluded with playoffs involving 24 teams within the confines of two quarantine “bubbles” in Toronto and Edmonton.
There is now talk that next season could be played in four “hub” cities that would allow more freedoms for players and others, including travel time back to home markets. That’s all part of the league’s early planning, which has already included a loose start date for next season that was pushed back from Dec. 1 to Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, uncertainty remains and the clock continues to run.
“I think right now, there’s too many things out of (the NHL’S) control, with all the states and the travel between states (and the U.s./canadian border),” Savard said. “Stuff like this makes it complicated, but they’re all just working on trying to figure out the best scenarios for both sides. The players want to play and I think the owners don’t want to lose a season, either.”
The players are also keenly aware of their surroundings, especially those who live in the U.S. and see firsthand the toll the pandemic has taken on families across the country. Infections and deaths continue to mount, millions are out of work – facing their own uncertainties – and the last thing professional hockey players want to do is sound ungrateful for the salaries they’re provided.
“I’m never going to complain about being in the NHL for a single day,” said Nash, who signed a three-year contract with the Blue Jackets in July 2018. “If (my career) is shortened, then it’s obviously not ideal, but you’ve got to move on from that. It’s just the situation we’re in. A lot of people are in a lot worse position than we are, so hopefully we can get this season going, sooner rather than later, and it’ll hopefully go off smoothly.”
bhedger@dispatch.com