NHL stickhandles past uncertainty with solid – if imperfect – plan to return

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/05/2020 (1740 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hockey, it’s often been said, is the ultimate team sport.

Whether it’s throwing your body in front of a 100-mph slapshot, gutting it out through various aches and breaks or accepting a reduced role, players are programmed to make sacrifices for the greater good. It’s one of the things we love about these exceptional athletes, almost to the point of romanticizing it in some cases.

Then along came COVID-19, the toughest opponent they’ve ever faced. Blocking a Patrik Laine one-timer, skating with a nagging groin strain with blood pouring down your cheek, or not grumbling about that fourth-line demotion seemed pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things. Suddenly, the game itself was in peril.

As NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday, “these are extraordinary and unprecedented times.” Which is why the players, along with the league itself, deserve some socially distant glove taps for how they’ve stickhandled through this global crisis and come up with an extraordinary, unprecedented return-to-play proposal in the midst of a pandemic that should have fans around the country throwing up their arms in hopeful celebration.

While MLB and the NBA continue to sort out how they might get back on the field and court, the NHL has jumped to head of the class when it comes to major North American pro sports leagues with a detailed action plan that is unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

An expanded 24-team format, a best-of-five play-in round, two cities hosting empty arena games, hockey that could resume in July and stretch into September and a modified online draft are just a number of the unique aspects to all of this, which Bettman and company mapped out publicly Tuesday.

Let’s make two things clear: This is far from a done deal, with plenty of hurdles still on the horizon. And what’s being proposed is far from perfect. But that was never going to be the case. We already know, for example, that two teams (Carolina and Tampa Bay) voted against the format, apparently unhappy at their matchups and how it trivialized regular-season accomplishments.

Fair enough. You can’t please everyone. But what you can, and in this case need to do, is chart a course that attempts to minimize the inevitable financial damage done to the league while also protecting the integrity of the game, the health and welfare of all the stakeholders and giving something for your supporters to look forward to.

So far, so good on all fronts.

Collaboration has been key. Establishing a small player committee in the early stages of the pandemic shutdown, which included Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele, set the tone that this would not just be the rich guys in suits making the calls. It didn’t go unnoticed that Bettman went out of his way to thank them all on Tuesday.

After all, it’s the athletes themselves who will be asked to make the biggest sacrifices, and it’s clear they’re prepared to do that in spades. Don’t forget – these guys only get paid for the regular-season. Playoffs are money-makers for owners, but players are essentially competing for pride at that stage. They do, however, have a financial stake in that future salary caps, and thus future earnings, could be severely impacted if the league can’t complete the playoffs and lose an estimated $1 billion in revenues.

Which is why some real teamwork is required to make the dream work. Nothing has come easy, as the plan unveiled Tuesday are the result of weeks of behind-the-scenes talks and debates which apparently got very animated at times.

It also continued an encouraging recent trend which has seen the NHL and the NHLPA heat up a relationship that has been ice cold in the past, including two lockouts already this century and the exclusion of NHL players from the most recent Winter Olympics. A positive sign, for sure, especially with the hope of NHL players going to the 2022 Games in Beijing and the prospect of a new collective bargaining agreement that ensures labour peace for years to come.

Discussions on the 2020 playoffs will continue, and probably get even more difficult, especially as they get down to the nitty-gritty of choosing two hub cities out of a short-list of 10 in the next few weeks and lay out exactly how it’s going to work for players, and perhaps their families, to be isolated from the rest of society for potentially two months, or longer, and be kept safe from a virus that has already killed more than 100,000 alone in the United States.

Frequency and cost of testing, along with what happens when a player or staff member tests positive are all details which still need to be worked out. Getting everyone on the same page won’t be easy. Perhaps impossible. Which is why transparency is also key.

In that respect, the NHL lifted the curtain on Monday by unveiling how players could begin skating at their home facilities next month in small groups of six or less. Scanning through the 22-page document shows just how much thought has been put into every detail, big and small.

It also underlines the many challenges that exist, both now and in the coming weeks, which is why you shouldn’t be dusting off your favourite jersey just yet. Nothing is set is stone and this whole thing could still be derailed by the pandemic – along with government and health officials who will need to sign off on all aspects – before training camps can resume, likely in early July, followed by the playoffs themselves starting a few weeks later.

Consider these next few weeks the proverbial canary in the coal mine.

One thing we know for sure is that the players themselves will have a huge say in every phase of this return-to-play plan, which is the way it should be. But don’t be surprised to see them ultimately present a united front — even if it means some personal sacrifice — because that’s just what hockey players always seem to do.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg