Players don’t have to undergo Phase 2 in plan to resume play

​Does it mean things are moving faster than expected?

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HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Players don’t have to undergo Phase 2 in plan to resume play
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It was recently reported by TSN’s Frank Seravalli that the NHL is targeting mid-to-late May for its ‘Phase 2’, which is opening team practice facilities for small group workouts. That’s already a good sign that things are moving along in an encouraging way in the process to resume play after the NHL was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Darren Dreger even explained on Thursday night that not all players will have to undergo Phase 2 before returning to action. 

“The goal is, of course, to initiate Phase 2 at some point around the middle of May, maybe the third week of May but it’s a recommendation. It’s not mandatory. What is mandatory – assuming there is a go-ahead – is that NHL players report to their NHL cities for the start of training camp. And potentially that could be around June 1 but there are others who say that Phase 2 may not be initiated. There’s certainly no guarantee of that and that’s all health-related. It’s important to note though. There will be no agreement on an NHL resumption unless players have an allowance to visit with their families. How does that happen? I mean, could families come into a safe zone in an NHL city? Could an NHL player be released to go visit his family for five days up to a week and then test and then be reintroduced back to the NHL club? All of these things are in the discussion stage.”

Seeing that players may not be able to see their families as training camp begins, some might choose to stay home and omit Phase 2 before joining camps. 

For now, it is considered not mandatory: it remains to be seen how many players will choose to join small groups on the ice prior to training camps. 

Source: TSN