Players refuse plan to play in host cities, put return in jeopardy!

We all thought the solution was in the works. It had been reported that there were between nine and 12 teams bidding to host what are expected to be four National Hockey League playoff “tournaments,” should the league be able to resume play this summer. 

However, the New York Post now reports that players are not pleased by the scenario, which would send them away from their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The NHL seems to be pivoting from its plan to reopen the season in four centralized locations and is now focused on playing games in its teams’ home cities, multiple sources have told The Post.

The league is dealing with a myriad of hypotheticals, but it is believed that the players have pushed back on the prospect of spending months in a hotel apart from their families. Hence, the league is studying this alternative that is believed to have surfaced in the aftermath of Wednesday’s virtual meeting of the NHL/NHLPA Return to Play Committee that includes five active players.

This would create an entire new set of issues for the NHL and NHLPA to confront and solve, most notable of which would be travel considerations and the means with which to consistently test players and attendant personnel who live in disparate locations under divergent coronavirus-related government policies.

Under a best-case scenario, the NHL would open its training facilities for small group workouts on or around May 15 that would precede formal training camps of up to three weeks. The regular season would then resume in late June or early July, leading into a traditional Stanley Cup playoff tournament that would climax in late September or early October.”

This new information could change everything in the NHL’s plan to resume play. 

Let’s see what happens next…