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NHL's 24-team Return to Play proposal

Most of the bubbles in Europe have had minimal positive tests - the premier league, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, the England v West Indies cricket series (this one is particularly interesting as West Indies has to isolate in their bubble for 2 months having flown from an area not really impacted by the virus; we also had a player break the quarantine to sneak home and visit his dog and be banned from a game and fined and forced to take 3 negative tests before being allowed to play again)

My question is just whether sport is worth all those sacrifices for our entertainment, and if the players are really happy to play or if there?s commercial pressures on them and the morals round that.
 
Arn said:
My question is just whether sport is worth all those sacrifices for our entertainment, and if the players are really happy to play or if there?s commercial pressures on them and the morals round that.
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I think sport/entertainment is an important of coping for both the athlete and the fan. I'm not 100% whether the risk of infection is worth it though. It's tough to tell what toll this situation is having on people's mental states. I"m sure I'll get ripped a new one for that statement.

What I can say is this. Although it's nowhere the same level or sacrifices, getting my daughter back on the ice with a group of other girls has been the best thing for many of their own well being. Parents have sent me thank you notes and expressed how much better the mood of each girl has been since she's gotten back out there.
 
Seems weird watching live nhl hockey in late july.

edit: have to say the nhl did a pretty good job with the arena. It doesn't look like a Panthers game with the empty seats covered. NBC has the crowd noise and goal horns added in which is an nice touch but not distracting. The most noticeable thing is the rust on the players. Looks like slow motion as I expected.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
Arn said:
My question is just whether sport is worth all those sacrifices for our entertainment, and if the players are really happy to play or if there?s commercial pressures on them and the morals round that.
Click to expand...

I think sport/entertainment is an important of coping for both the athlete and the fan. I'm not 100% whether the risk of infection is worth it though. It's tough to tell what toll this situation is having on people's mental states. I"m sure I'll get ripped a new one for that statement.

What I can say is this. Although it's nowhere the same level or sacrifices, getting my daughter back on the ice with a group of other girls has been the best thing for many of their own well being. Parents have sent me thank you notes and expressed how much better the mood of each girl has been since she's gotten back out there.
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I actually fully agree with both points. I'm still watching most sports that are back (cos there's only so much Netflix true crime you can deal with) but I feel like some have maybe rushed back too soon. It's tough to get the balance. I think hockey has probably done it right. MLB not so much...

I definitely think amateur participation sport should have been prioritised though over pro sport for the reasons you touch on - the physical and mental health of the general population. But I also understand it's not that simple.

However, we might be going off topic there, so back on topic I watched bits of the games last night and certainly I feel the NHL has done a decent working in tricky circumstances in making a watchable "product"
 
https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1288523835139141632

My god, what on earth was that defensive positioning by the Panthers there?
 
herman said:
Is the NHL the most competent league at handling this?  :o
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No. They're just in a reasonably lucky situation. Like the NBA they're figuring out a relatively short tournament as opposed to a regular season and the NBA, despite the disadvantages of being in Florida, haven't really had any missteps outside of Lou Williams who, you know, did get caught.

Selling players and teams on a single location tournament where most of them will be done within a month so they can get some TV money is relatively easy. Having to figure out a regular season is going to be difficult for everyone.
 
Shanahan isn't happy with how some NHLers are treating Toronto's facilities:

https://twitter.com/brendanshanahan/status/1288606849990823942
 
Since the NHL is now testing daily, shouldn?t it be expected they announce the results in a similar fashion as opposed to every Monday? Or are they planning to do so only if and when there is a possible case? Guess we?ll also have to infer once a player is deemed ?unfit to play? out of nowhere.
 
Peter D. said:
Since the NHL is now testing daily, shouldn?t it be expected they announce the results in a similar fashion as opposed to every Monday? Or are they planning to do so only if and when there is a possible case? Guess we?ll also have to infer once a player is deemed ?unfit to play? out of nowhere.
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I guess they're going with the "no news is good news" approach, which, quite frankly, I'm okay with. I don't need an update when there have been no new positive tests. If all the tests come back negative, a weekly announcement seems fine. They should announce positive tests immediately, though.
 
We're underway tomorrow at noon with NYR-CAR. The 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin!
8 teams go home in 8 days or less, another 8 in a couple weeks after that.
 
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