Report: NHL won’t resume play until Sept/Oct

With news that the NHL is officially moving the “Phase 2” of its Return to Play plan today (June 8th), hockey fans have been hopeful that meaningful games will be played shortly. Mini training camps are expected to open later in June with the hopes of resuming play in July or August.

But now a report from Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette seems to indicate that play won’t resume until the Fall of 2020. 

Check it out:

The NHL is hoping to start official training camps in mid-July at the two hub cities that will be selected to play host to the 24-team playoff format. But don’t be surprised if the training camps don’t start until August, giving players most of the summer off (apart from training), with the playoffs starting in September and running through early November.

Either Cowan knows something that we don’t or he’s out to lunch…

It seems like he’s about 2-4 weeks off of the schedule that other NHL insiders like Pierre LeBrun and Elliotte Friedman have been reporting. Who’s to say who’s right at this point? Frankly, there’s too much up in the air to make any kind of reasonable prediction.

I tell you one thing though: I hope that Cowan is dead wrong and that the NHL returns sooner rather than later.

For the full article from Cowan in the Montreal Gazette, click below: