As the United States and Canada take steps towards re-opening, there are reasons to believe that this hockey season will actually resume and that the New York Rangers will be involved in a postseason play.
There have been numerous scenarios floated as all professional leagues start looking at options for resuming play. This week, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman outlined a time frame for resumption of the season that makes some of the scenarios make sense.
Gary Bettman was interviewed on Fox Business. It was a wide ranging interview, but the most important fact to come out of it was that Bettman said that the NHL is fully prepared to finish the season and playoffs, even if that means playing well into the summer.
Bettman said “We believe that we can be fairly flexible in terms of the calendar. and my guess at this point we’ll probably be playing into the summer which is something that we can certainly do.”
So, what does playing into the summer actually mean?? It definitely won’t be what we are accustomed to. Dr. Anthony Fauci said that he believes that professional sports can resume if the games are played in empty arenas and the players are in lockdown and tested weekly for COVID-19.
That’s easier said that done and the fear would be that if one player on one team tests positive, it could sideline the entire roster from playing any games.
The other challenge that Bettman outlined is that even getting the teams back together presents a huge undertaking. He pointed out that NHL players are currently scattered all over the world and they would all have to return and prove that they are virus-free before they would be allowed to play.
If they restarted the season
One thing is absolutely clear. Finishing the regular season is highly unlikely. Once approval is given to resume play,teams would have to get together, practice and play some exhibition games before playing for real.
Bettman said that it would take two to three weeks to get the players in gameready shape. He emphasized that they don’t want to risk players injuries by re-starting play prematurely. Finishing the regular season would take another three weeks so a six to seven week time frame before the playoffs could start is probably undesirable.
Bettman said that the league is focused on all of these issues and has been lobbied heavily by the teams. He said “We are considering all of the alternatives…not just structure of play, where we actually do it, all over North America and not all locations are in the same situation.”