NHL Takes Big Step Toward Resumption But With Eye On Caution
On May 26th, the NHL & NHLPA announced an agreement to a 4-phase resumption plan to conclude the 2019-2020 season. During the announcement, phases 1 & 2 were announced and phases 3 & 4 were unknown and agreed to be announced at a later date.
The date for phase 3 came Thursday in a formal announcement from the NHL.
“The National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) announced today that formal training camps (Phase 3) for the 24 teams resuming play will open on Friday, July 10, provided that medical and safety conditions allow and the parties have reached an overall agreement on resuming play. The length of training camp and, therefore, the start date for formal resumption of play (Phase 4) will be determined at a future date.”
This announcement is a huge step forward for the eventual return of the 2019-2020 season. But, it also was a very cautious agreement.
In the latter part of the announcement, both sides agreed to revaluate the situation before restarting saying “provided that medical and safety conditions allow and the parties have reached an overall agreement on resuming play”.
While today’s announcement gives fans a date for resumption, it also leaves an unknown to possible push-back. The safety of the players & staff are at the utmost importance and this agreement makes it very well known. If the situation doesn’t improve or possibly gets worse, both sides have the opportunity to halt the resumption & push the date back.
Today’s agreement also left out details on phase 4 & noted they will be determined at later date. Phase 4 will be the hardest phase to agree too because the it will be all about the players.
In phase 4, the players will have most of the say. They will more than likely request ample time to get back into game shape. Some players have stated they would like at least 3 weeks to prepare. They will also likely request off days during that time & during the playoffs.
In the CBA now, players get at a minimum of 4 days off per month. With a restart straight into the playoffs, players may request an increase to that number to let their bodies adjust to the resumption.
If the players agree to 3 weeks of training camp & phase 3 starts on July 10, August 1 is still in reach for a start date. But, travel to remote locations and a possible mini-quarantine before the start of the resumption could push that date further into August.
These little details make the agreement for phase 4 the most challenging part. In normal agreement, you can have a few no’s. In this case, it is hard to have no’s because it is at the safety of everyone.
The NHLs phase 3 announcement was a big step in the right direction to the resumption of the 2019-2020 season, but it does leave little doubt that it still has a lot left to hurdle.