Rumor: Increased virus numbers may be delaying the naming of “Hub” cities.

There was an expectation that at some point this week the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players Association would announce the location of their hub cities for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but at the time of this writing it is July 27th and thus far we have heard nothing. There's been no reason given for the delay, but considering that we are one month away from when the NHL would like to return to action it would seem that time must be drawing short. 

Although we don't know the official reason for the delayed announcement many have begun to speculate on the possible delay and most are coming to the same conclusion, a sudden spike in cases for COVID-19. There's been no confirmation from the league or from the players association on that issue but players have been very comfortable speaking about their safety concerns in recent days, so someone decided to put the question directly to one of the top ranking executives in the league. 

Recently TSN's Ryan Rishaug had a chance to ask NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly whether or not the sudden spike in cases, specifically in the United States of America, was causing the NHL to rethink their plans surrounding using Las Vegas as a potential Hub city. The NHL's second most powerful executive gave a response to the question but in many ways it was a non answer.

“Every relevant consideration will be fairly evaluated before decisions are made and announced,” said Daly as per Rishaug's report.

Daly doesn't directly answer the question at all here but his answer could at least be interpreted as an indication that the NHL is weighing every factor, including the recent rash of COVID-19 outbreaks in America. One thing we do know for certain is it now sounds like we are going to have to wait at least a few more days for the announcement, with NHL insider John Shannon reporting that the league will not be making an announcement regarding their hub cities at any point during the weekend. 

Whatever it is has caused the delay, and I do believe it is the outbreak of positive tests, it seems like the NHL is taking the matter very seriously.