Even as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said, “we’re not going to rush anything,” in his interview with Sportsnet on Weꦑdnesday, the NHL may be on an accelerated timeline to resume the season.
Th꧃e Post has learned that at least one NHL team has told its players to be prepared to report on May 15 to begin informal workouts that would precede a training camp of up to three weeks. Not all teams have acted in a similar mannerꦜ.
“I don’t know what Clubs are telling their Players,” deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Post v💃ia email. “We have not specified or articulated any ‘target dates’ to our Clubs at this point.”
Players — or teams — would presumably be isolated beginning with the report date. That might mean sequestration for a duration of up to four months if the NHL completes the 189 outstanding games remaining in the regular season ahead of holding a traditional Stanley Cup playoffs.
Bettman on Wednesday said the league will centralize its games in up to four locations. Further🀅 comp♊licating matters is the fact many teams are unlikely to receive clearance from their local governing bodies and health agencies to conduct workouts and/or camps at home.
That means those teams would have to relocate to their assigned central location for camp and the duration of the sea๊son/playoffs.
Though nothing is etched in stone, Columbus,🌸 Ohio, is the favorite to host Metropolitan Division teams. That, of course, includes the Rangers, Islanders and Devils. It is not known what social distancing and “re-opening” guidelines would apply in Ohio in mid-May.
Sources indicate that as of Thursday, the♏re had yet to be an in-depth conversation between the NHL and NHLPA regarding protocols that would be in place to protect the players against being infected with the coronavirus. The same protections, of course, would have to apply to their entirety of team traveling parties that would range from 50-60 individuals.
Testing — and retesting — would seem mandatory but it is unknown whether and just how tಞhe NHL would be in position to administer th💙at high a volume of tests beginning in just over three weeks.
It is also unknown whether players returning from Europe — and specifically from Sweden, where t﷽he country has taken a more laissez-faire approach to combating the virus — would need to be quarantined for two weeks upඣon their arrival in North America.
If that were the case, those players would have to depa♕rt their homeland on or around May 1 — one week from Friday. The NHL has a self-isolation guideline in place through A🥃pril 30 that had been expected to be extended.
But that, as much else, is unclear.