Ice hockey in North America became the latest sport to finalize a return during the COVID-19 pandemic after NHL owners and players on Friday approved an agreement to resume the season and with it an assurance of labor peace through September 2026.
Games are scheduled to begin on Aug. 1 in Toronto and Edmonton, Alberta, with coronavirus cases in the US pushing the league into Canada for the summer and fall until the Stanley Cup is awarded in late September or early October.
Training camps are to open across North America tomorrow, which is also the deadline for players to opt out of participating with no penalty.
Photo: AFP
The Minnesota Wild’s Zach Parise earlier this week said that he does not think a lot of players will choose not to play, but the NHL already has one example.
Hours after the agreement was reached, Calgary Flames defenseman Travis Hamonic became the first to publicly opt out, citing family reasons.
Hamonic’s daughter was hospitalized last year with a respiratory illness.
“I wish I could lace up my skates and be out there battling, blocking a shot and helping my team win, but my family has and always will come first,” Hamonic said. “Being my little kids’ dad every day is the most important job I have.”
“While we will miss Travis in our lineup, we understand and respect his decision,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving said.
The return-to-play plan, tentatively approved by the NHL and NHL Players’ Association (NHLPA) on Monday, was ratified by the league’s board of governors and with majority approval from players following a three-day voting period, which ended on Friday. Along with it, the two sides also formally approved a four-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement.
“This agreement is a meaningful step forward for the players and owners, and for our game, in a difficult and uncertain time,” NHLPA executive director Don Fehr said. “We are pleased to be able to bring NHL hockey back to the fans.”
The NHL is back with an expanded 24-team playoff format, but things will be much different from the norm: There will be no fans. There will be between five and six games a day at the start — up to three at each site, which will be heavily cordoned off from the public.
And for the first time in league history, there will be an unusual final four in Edmonton to settle a championship later than ever before with ramifications pushing back the start of next season to December or even as late as January.
The top four teams in each conference — the Boston Bruins, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Washington Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference, and the St Louis Blues, the Colorado Avalanche, the Vegas Golden Knights and the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference — automatically advance to the field of 16 and are to play separate round-robin tournaments to determine seeding.
The best-of-five qualifying round series in the East are the Pittsburgh Penguins (No. 5) against the Montreal Canadiens (No. 12), the Carolina Hurricanes (No. 6) against the New York Rangers (No. 11), the New York Islanders (No. 7) against the Florida Panthers (No. 10) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (No. 8) against the Columbus Blue Jackets (No. 9). In the West it is the Edmonton Oilers (No. 5) against the Chicago Blackhawks (No. 12), the Nashville Predators (No. 6) against the Arizona Coyotes (No. 11), the Vancouver Canucks (No. 7) against the Wild (No. 10) and the Flames (No. 8) against the Winnipeg Jets (No. 9).
Action is to begin with five games on Aug. 1, starting with Hurricanes-Rangers, Islanders-Panthers and Penguins-Canadiens in Toronto, and the Oilers-Blackhawks and Flames-Jets in Edmonton.
The preliminary round features 52 games played through the first nine days before teams get a break on Aug. 10, when the NHL is to hold the second phase of its draft lottery. Each of the eight eliminated teams will have an equal chance of winning the No. 1 pick, after the first phase of the draft lottery left the choice undetermined.
The first round of the playoffs is to begin at each of the two hub cities on Aug. 11. Teams are to be re-seeded every round and the remainder of the playoffs are to be best-of-seven series.
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