Memo to NHL players may renew hope for restarted season

With the NHL season in the midst of a suspension due to COVID-19 concerns, it seemed many had lost all hope that play would resume any time soon. However, there's word about a memo going to players today that may change expectations. 

According to Stephen Whyno with the Associated Press, he's been told by NHL Players Association Executive Director Don Fehr that the memo will tell players to stay home but be around their team's cities and be available as team facilities could reopen in a few days. That would certainly be a big step in getting the regular season started once again. 

Right now, the suspension of the season includes all team practices, meetings, etc. Essentially, anything and everything to do with the NHL that can't be handled through phone and email. There is no set timeline, with the league simply saying the closure is indefinite and it is reassessing the situation daily. 

Having players return to practice this quickly would likely go against the advice of medical professionals, though. Infectious disease expert Dr. Andrew Morris recently appeared on TSN saying ""I think it's pretty unrealistic to think that we're going to be able to restart these leagues over the next few weeks because players are going to continue to be at risk of having infections, and until this goes away in the community, it won't go away in sports at all." Ultimately, the situation is changing daily, if not hourly, and it's extremely difficult to predict where we'll be just 24 hours from now.