AHL releases update, tells players to go home

The league does not expect play to resume within the next month

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
AHL releases update, tells players to go home
AHL

The American Hockey League's Board of Governors released an update to all teams yesterday after participating in a conference call. While many speculated the update would include the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 season due to concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 virus, that was not exactly the case. 

"The American Hockey League has advised its clubs that the indefinite suspension of AHL play will not be lifted before May," read the update. "The league is recommending that teams facilitate the return of AHL players to their primary residences." 

In other word, go home, play isn't resuming any time soon. There's no need to stay in your team's city. 

The NHL has also allowed players not from Canada or the U.S. to return to their home countries if they choose to do so. Anyone who does must remain in self-quarantine until the end of March. 

It seems all but a done deal that the regular season for the NHL and AHL is over. Both leagues, however, are looking to return for some form of playoffs to cap off the 2019-20 season. According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, in order for that to happen, play must get underway by June 1st as networks will be turning their attention to the Summer Olympics on July 24th. There are rumours the NHL could do some form of 24-team playoffs that would include all clubs with a win percentage of .500 or better. That has not yet been confirmed. The idea of including more teams would be in order to maximize revenue following the loss of the last part of the regular season. 



Source: Twitter