The NHL Continues To Hold Out Hope For Summer Hockey

Editorial Staff

9mos ago

The NHL season was put on hold and not canceled the rest of the way. The league is still holding out hope to resume at some point with the playoffs. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman stated on Tuesday that the league has been exploring all options at this point and that it will be ready to rock and roll when the green light is given.

From
Gary Bettman
“I think right now there’s too much uncertainty,” Bettman said about a possible resumption. “Hopefully we’ll all know more by the end of April. From an NHL standpoint, we’re viewing all of our options. We want to be ready to go as soon as we get a green light, and the green light may not be crystal clear because there may still be some places in the country we can’t play, and other places where you can.
“We’re looking at all options. Nothing’s been ruled in, nothing’s been ruled out. It’s largely going to determined, what we do, by how much time there is, because we have next season to focus on as well, and by the health of (the U.S. and Canada).”

When the OK is given, the players will likely need a couple of weeks to get ready. It would be like a mini-training camp for the teams. It is important to note that the NHL could extend well into the summer as the league is covered by NBC and they now have an opening during the month of August, thanks to the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics.

The days of postponing or canceling games due to poor air conditioning are well over as the league has many NHL arenas that are state of the art and can make ice all through the summer. Having said that, the league will also not do anything that would jeopardize the teams from playing a full 82-game schedule next year.

One idea that I have heard is the NHL could hold the rest of the season in a state like Montana that has not been hit nearly as hard by the Coronavirus as many of the other states. The best-case scenario is that the NHL will start with a mini-camp at the beginning of May and then resume the regular season on May 15. We shall see and I will keep you posted.