NHL and Player’s Association Continue Comeback Meetings

Ever since March 12 when the NHL and AHL suspended play hockey players and their fans have been dreaming of when play can resume.  So far COVID-19 has held the upper hand. But slowly, there are signs that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The NHL and the NHL Player's Association continue to hold meetings attempting to formulate a plan to resume regular season play when feasible.  NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says the meetings are moving forward in the best way they can given the Coronavirus situation.

Bettman says " we're going to have to take things one step at a time because the health and well-being of our players is paramount to anything we are focused on."  If conditions trend favorably going forward Bettman says the NHL and the NHL Player's Association might allow small groups to train together by the middle or end of May.

The NHL Commissioner goes on to stay that the League and the Player's Association are facing two major concerns.  First is COVID-19 itself.  When will the pandemic contract enough to make it safe to assemble teams to practice ?  And, secondly, when and how long will it take to get the players into game shape. Thoughts range from two to four weeks. Would there be time allotted to scrimmage or play several "exhibition" games or would the players skate, workout and play ?

If teams get the green light to get back on the ice even by mid-May that scenario would not facilitate the resumption of the game schedule until early July.  The Binghamton Devils face a similar situation in that the NHL has to solidify it's time frame before any attention is paid to getting AHL teams back on the ice. And so Binghamton like the rest of the AHL teams must continue to wait.