Name: ‘Guys are not happy’: How the NHL’s positive tests will impact return to play
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‘Guys are not happy’: How the NHL’s positive tests will impact return to play

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Jun 20, 2020The received a significant wake-up call this week.Eleven players tested positive for COVID-19, leading to both inside and outside of team facilities. The known hot spots, at this point, are localized in Arizona and Florida, where the virus caseload has risen among the general public in recent weeks.The 11 players who tested positive were out of a group of more than 200 players tested, many of whom were taking part in Phase 2 of the NHL’s planned return to play. Phase 3 – the start of training camps – is scheduled to begin on July 10, less than three weeks from today.According to an NHL source on Saturday, the league is not considering pushing back that start date at this point. However, given many players are not taking part in Phase 2 and not yet in their NHL cities,&nbsp;and the players have not yet voted to agree to return to play, it would seem to make that Phase 3 date more difficult to hit.The names of the NHL players infected have not been released. The Athletic’s policy is to not identify athletes by name unless the team or player agrees to do so.One prominent Western Conference player said Friday that the positive tests were further confirmation that the league was moving too fast with its timeline.“This just makes no sense to me,” the veteran player said. “Right from the return-to-play format announcement and this Phase 2 thing that none of us have to be in, they’ve put the cart before the horse. We’re in the middle of a pandemic, and they’re shocked there’s an outbreak? And it’s a long ways off to July 10, so you can’t tell me more and more guys won’t be testing positive as more and more guys start to get back to town.“Guys are not happy. This is why we better have a full player vote and not just an executive board vote. But I’m not convinced (NHLPA executive director) Don (Fehr) is going to allow that because he knows there’s so many of us on the fence. That’s why I think the league was trying to be hush-hush on these positive tests.“In my opinion, no way we play.”Several NHL player agents surveyed by The Athletic this week indicated that more and more of their players are troubled by the idea of returning to play in a hub city environment. One prominent agent estimated that 35 to 40 percent of players were on the fence. Another suggested it was even higher than that.Among those players who have already expressed reservations publicly are , and . Their concern goes beyond finances and their individual health.“You look at our staff, our coaches, they’re older, so it’s just deeper than just the players,” said another veteran player. “It’s everyone that’s involved in it, too. The staff and the coaches are probably more at risk of getting something serious than we are as players, and we do have to think about that.”Other factors include time away from family, uncertainty over the length of the various phases, as well as health and safety concerns. But the other, less discussed issue is there may not be a lot to gain financially given players have already collected most of their paychecks for the season and playoff games without fans in attendance will not be big revenue generators.While returning to play could save them an additional 7 or 8 percent of their salaries by way of escrow deductions thanks to making television and sponsorship agreements whole, the net impact for players on the low end of the salary scale could be trading two or three months in a bubble environment for $20,000 or $30,000.“For some guys, it’s not even a full paycheck,” one agent explained of how the playoff pay scale works.Yet another concern players are expressing is how the NHL will deal with positive tests during play. If a team is in the middle of a heated playoff series and multiple players test positive for COVID-19, will they be pulled from games?How would that impact the integrity of the tournament, given star players might be asymptomatic but still unable to participate in pivotal elimination games? And would there be an advantage to the players or teams who have already had the virus, as they would be less likely to contract it again during, say, the Stanley Cup Final?Part of the issue the NHL is dealing with right now with these positive tests is their inability to control where players are and how strict they are with their isolation while in Phase 2. Teams won’t be able to fully track players’ whereabouts until at least Phase 3, when there will be a mass migration back from Europe and players’ offseason homes to their NHL cities.The league may be able to greater limit players’ contact with the outside world at that point. To get there, however, they’ll need a green light from players.It’s difficult to know how such a vote would go, especially considering the current plan is to include the framework of a medium-term CBA extension in the return-to-play agreement. If the players decide not to finish this season, they also lose serious leverage in CBA negotiations. So can the league give players enough incentives in such a deal to mitigate their unwillingness to take part in this unusual 24-team postseason?The concern on the league’s side right now is that, without a return-to-play mandate in the next two or three weeks, the NHL calendar could go dark for months – potentially while other leagues play games for large, captive TV audiences.The long-term effects of the NHL not playing could be significant, especially with a new U.S. television deal needed after next season.That’s why some players remain hopeful a deal can get done that will allow them to play meaningful games by early August.“Both sides are working extremely hard to try to get something done both for this year and CBA wise,” said Dubnyk, the ’s NHLPA player rep. “It takes some time to get everything together, present it to the players, get votes as far as the CBA and even as the protocols go, it takes a while to gather, to get all the information to guys and then take a vote.“What they were saying is, if we were to sign the CBA (extension) on July 9, we could start training camp on July 10. But if we wait and guys don’t come in a short enough amount of time to get the quarantine rules out of the way, we could sign it but then it’s another two weeks on top of that. I think everybody agrees that if we’re going to do this, we might as well get going. And the sooner the better. So they’re hanging on to that July 10 date. That would be ideal, but I don’t know if it’s realistic.”Originally a skeptic, Dubnyk said he is coming around to the idea of playing, explaining that the hub city arrangements have improved since the early stages of negotiations. Players will not be expected to be on full lockdown in their hotel rooms, for example, and will have activities they can do outside of games and practices.“It feels like (we’re going to play) now,” Dubnyk said. “I think we’re going to find out over the next few weeks a lot more how things are going to go with these and more positive tests popping up, how people react to them, all that kind of thing. Before I didn’t feel like we would. Now I’m leaning more towards it feels like we’re going to.”center agreed.“With all the testing we all have to go through all the time (in Phase 2), it’s nice to know if we’ve been exposed, but it will provide more positives,” Boyle said. “Whether they’re false positives or not. I’m just hoping nobody has to deal with aggressive symptoms and (we) understand we are not through this yet and need to act accordingly.“Prepare for the worst and hope for the best, right? Assuming you and everyone else has it is a good way to hopefully make this virus submit. And hopefully a vaccine is coming soon. My thinking hasn’t changed. I’m still very optimistic.”How much company Dubnyk and Boyle have on that front remains to be seen. Friday wasn’t a good news day for the NHL, and the full fallout from these positive tests won’t be realized until players are forced to vote on a comprehensive return-to-play plan. For undecided players, this doesn’t help the cause.This text from one prominent player seemed to sum up the mood of many players: “I don’t really know what to think right now.”With reports from Craig Custance and Joe Smith&nbsp;(Photo: Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)

Jun 20, 2020The received a significant wake-up call this week.Eleven players tested positive for COVID-19, leading to both inside and outside of team facilities. The known hot spots, at this point, are localized in Arizona and Florida, where the virus caseload has risen among the general public in recent weeks.The 11 players who tested positive were out of a group of more than 200 players tested, many of whom were taking part in Phase 2 of the NHL’s planned return to play. Phase 3 – the start of training camps – is scheduled to begin on July 10, less than three weeks from today.According to...

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‘Guys are not happy’: How the NHL’s positive tests will impact return to play

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