NHL drops terrible news on the players just before the Stanley Cup final.

Simply awful.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
NHL drops terrible news on the players just before the Stanley Cup final.
Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times/Zuma

The National Hockey League has dropped some bad news on the players right before the biggest series that many of them will ever play in.

According to a report from Dallas Stars insider Sean Shapiro, the players that will participate in the Stanley Cup Final between the Dallas Stars and Tampa Lightning that have their families in the United States were informed yesterday that those family members would not be making it to the Stanley Cup Final. That means that without a doubt there will be players who will win the Stanley Cup, the greatest prize in the world of hockey, this year and will be unable to celebrate the moment with their families.


To say that this is an awful thing to do to the players is an understatement but I must say that I am not entirely sure that the NHL itself will be to blame here. One of the big factors at the final hour when it came to deciding which cities the NHL would choose for its Return to Play was a pending decision from the Canadian government in regards to the quarantine procedures for players coming from outside of the country. Although this is pure speculation on my part I strongly suspect that the Canadian government may have once again played a factor here when it came to allowing American residents to cross the border, on short notice no less, at this time. 

Perhaps the NHL still should shoulder some blame here for not having made arrangements prior to things getting to this point, but I am willing to cut the league some slack. Although they unquestionably wield considerable influence, if there are elements within the Canadian government that were steadfastly opposed to bringing more Americans into the bubble, there isn't much a league even like the NHL can do at a time like this. 

I will say in closing that I feel awful for all of the players who will miss out on what will be for many of them a once in a lifetime opportunity, one that under any other circumstances they would have shared with all of their loved ones.

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