NHL forced to hold exhibition games before season resumes

The NHL has extended its guideline for players and staff to self-quarantine until April 15, but it remains possible the coronavirus pandemic could push that back even further.

However, the focus is still on resuming play and crowning a Stanley Cup champion, even if it means doing it into the summer. But the league does not want any decision on this paused season to impact the next. 

It might be hard then to do what Washington Capitals’ top forward Nicklas Backstrom is asking. The Caps’ star forward, who became a father for the third time during the shutdown, is hoping the NHL will hold exhibition games to get players back into shape before the official season resumes en route for the playoffs. He wants some sort of training camp to take place, like many other players in the league. 

“You’ve got to have some exhibition games before.”

The NHL put its season on pause March 12 with 189 regular-season games remaining. Commissioner Gary Bettman said then he was optimistic of resuming the season and awarding the Stanley Cup.

And that’s also important to Backstrom despite the fact that a time crunch would be much needed to get everything done, exhibition contests included, without impacting the 2020-21 campaign.
 
“You want to have a champion this year, that’s for sure.” 

The timeline for doing all that still isn’t clear. The NHL has asked teams for arena availability dates through August, but we don’t know if that will be enough.