NHL insider reveals how many players will opt out of playoffs

The league has allowed players to choose if they want to stay out of the tournament.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
NHL insider reveals how many players will opt out of playoffs
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The NHL has decided to let players the option to opt out of the league’s Return to Play if they choose without consequence and insider Ken Campbell of The Hockey News has revealed how many will opt out of the playoffs. 

Campbell is adamant that none of the players from teams that take part in the 24-club playoff tournament will choose to stay home. 

“Here’s a bold prediction, a hot take, if you will. Of the 744 players – 31 for each of the 24 teams taking part – who will be eligible to play in the playoffs starting in August, I don’t believe a single one will opt out of playing. Not one. No number of positive cases of COVID, which is essentially at 35 and counting, no amount of risk and the possibility of not making anything more beyond playoff bonus money will keep these guys off the ice.”

The insider believes players are set on competing for the Stanley Cup, despite the roller-coaster season that was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, even if some might not feel terribly comfortable about playing hockey right now and being in such closed quarters for an extended period of time.

He adds that players who would choose to miss out on the postseason who be humiliated by others, and fear to be shamed by teammates in the process. 

“Hockey players care more about what their teammates think about them than almost anything else and any player who declines to play, even if he doesn’t disclose a reason, knows he will have a very, very difficult time walking back into his team’s dressing room next season.”

Even with the positive COVID-19 diagnosis happening in the league in the past few weeks, Campbell maintains that players feel they are strong enough to brush off the symptoms and fight the virus while competing for a championship. 

Campbell wants you to mark his words: “The same players who would do anything to keep their spot in the lineup and do even more to have a chance to win a Stanley Cup will put all of their fears aside and they’ll play, every single one of them.”