The NHL Is Set Up To Restart And Finish Its Season

You know it’s officially the strangest year of our lifetime when the NHL has been more effective than the other major team sports’ leagues with its plan to return to action after a longer than four-month shutdown of sports due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Players and owners bickered over money for two months causing baseball to miss a golden opportunity to have the sports stage all to itself. Instead, we are left with a 60 game regular season and many prominent players bowing out of this season.

MLB hasn’t even been able to test its players properly for Covid-19. Many teams missed days of training camp because it took as long as five days to get results.

The NBA announced two months ago that it would resume play within a bubble at Disney World in Florida. The problem is that since announcing the restart of its season, Florida, in particular Central Florida, has resurfaced as a hot spot for the virus.

Many players have tested positive for Covid-19 and will not take part in the exercise. Other players will stay home because they are not comfortable leaving their families for up to three months. Meanwhile, scores of players who are playing seem less than enthusiastic about heading to Orlando.

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The NFL went all-in during the off-season with free agency and the draft. Camps are scheduled to open at the end of July. However, the exhibition schedule has been reduced from four to two games. It would not come as a surprise if the regular season was delayed two to four weeks, meaning Super Bowl LV in Tompa Bay would take place in early March.

NFL owners have also proposed that 35 percent of players’ salaries this season be placed in escrow. Such a move would significantly impact an already fractious owner-player relationship.

Meanwhile, the NHL held its plan close to the vest, unveiling details once they were etched in stone.

Instead of one bubble location, the NHL has two, with Toronto and Edmonton serving as its hubs. Going north of the border is wise since Canada has a much better handle on the virus when compared to the United States.

Not surprisingly, very few players have complained or decided to skip the remainder of the season. Hockey players are a different breed. Among professional team sports athletes, hockey players are the most humble and accommodating. Getting their name on the Stanley Cup is something that every player dreams of.

The NHL has taken this opportunity to deal with potential labor issues as well. Instead of fighting about dollars, the league and players union quietly added four years to its Collective Bargaining Agreement while forming a plan to deal with the loss of revenue due to the Coronavirus. This deal guarantees labor peace through the 2025-26 season.

The league also announced that the first ten days of the reboot will feature five to six games per day starting as early as noon and running past midnight allowing hockey fans the opportunity to enjoy a nearly endless feast of competitive games.

Major League Baseball can’t even get its testing right. NBA players, rightfully so, seem less than enthusiastic heading into the hot spot of a pandemic. The NFL still has more questions than answers. Hockey quietly is ready to resume play with the best chance of finishing its season without incident.

Let’s drop the puck.

John Sapochetti is Co-Host
The “SAP & KAT SHOW”
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NHL Leading Scorers – 2019/20

Skater Statistics Table
					Scor	Scor	Scor	Scor
Rk	Player	Age	Tm	Pos	GP	G	A	PTS ▼
1	Leon Draisaitl	24	EDM	C	71	43	67	110
2	Connor McDavid	23	EDM	C	64	34	63	97
3	Artemi Panarin	28	NYR	LW	69	32	63	95
4	David Pastrnak	23	BOS	RW	70	48	47	95
5	Nathan MacKinnon	24	COL	C	69	35	58	93
6	Brad Marchand	31	BOS	LW	70	28	59	87
7	Nikita Kucherov	26	TBL	RW	68	33	52	85
8	Patrick Kane	31	CHI	RW	70	33	51	84
9	Auston Matthews	22	TOR	C	70	47	33	80
10	Jack Eichel	23	BUF	C	68	36	42	78
11	Jonathan Huberdeau	26	FLA	LW	69	23	55	78
12	John Carlson	30	WSH	D	69	15	60	75
13	Mika Zibanejad	26	NYR	C	57	41	34	75
14	Evgeni Malkin	33	PIT	C	55	25	49	74
15	Kyle Connor	23	WPG	LW	71	38	35	73
16	Mark Scheifele	26	WPG	C	71	29	44	73
17	J.T. Miller	26	VAN	C	69	27	45	72
18	Mitch Marner	22	TOR	RW	59	16	51	67
19	Alex Ovechkin	34	WSH	LW	68	48	19	67
20	Sebastian Aho	22	CAR	F	68	38	28	66
21	Max Pacioretty	31	VEG	LW	71	32	34	66
22	Elias Pettersson	21	VAN	C	68	27	39	66
23	Steven Stamkos	29	TBL	C	57	29	37	66
24	Roman Josi	29	NSH	D	69	16	49	65
25	Blake Wheeler	33	WPG	RW	71	22	43	65