Commissioner Gary Bettman still hopes to salvage NHL season
Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks to the media prior to the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills Competition at Enterprise Center on January 24, 2020 in St Louis, Missouri. Credit: Getty Images/Bruce Bennett
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is hoping that the league, which halted its season on Thursday due to the coronavirus crisis, will be able to resume play in some manner and be able to crown a 2019-20 champion.
“We’re doing all sorts of modeling, whether it’s completing the existing regular season as is, and then a full playoffs, or whether or not, based on time constraints, we’re going to have to make adjustments and do something different, creative,’’ Bettman told Canadian sports outlet Rogers SportsNet. “My hope and expectation is that we can finish the season in some form, award the Stanley Cup.’’
Bettman, who did several interviews with various media outlets Friday, said that as far as he is aware, no NHL player or league employee has yet tested positive for coronavirus.
Bettman said the NHL had been discussing the coronavirus pandemic for weeks, and he knew, as soon as the NBA suspended its season Wednesday night, after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus, that the NHL would shut down as well. The league followed the NBA’s lead on Thursday, after Bettman held a conference call with the Board of Governors.
Bettman would not give a timetable for how long the league can remain dark before it is too late to resume the season.
“We’re looking at the calendar,’’ he told the league’s website, nhl.com. “We’re looking at what we think is and isn’t doable in terms of a timeframe to continue to play. Obviously, it’s conceivable that we’ll play beyond the time we were originally scheduled to conclude. How much longer we could do that is something we’re trying to determine.’’
The regular season had been scheduled to end April 4. If the season goes much beyond that, and the playoffs then go deep into the summer, games could start bumping into things like the league’s postseason awards, scheduled for June 17; and the draft, scheduled for June 26-27. While those events could end up being moved, Bettman told nhl.com that the 2020-21 season won’t be shortened, though it might not start on time.
The league also will need to figure out its revenues which are split 50-50 between the owners and players. The league’s revenue determines the salary cap, so if the league cannot resume play, it could affect the salary cap number for next season.
Bettman said the league meets twice a day to assess the situation, knowing that the situation with the pandemic is constantly evolving. Potential solutions that make sense now may make less sense in a few weeks, he said.
For now, players are not required to get tested for coronavirus and Bettman said he wasn't aware of anyone in the league who had tested positive. He said players are asked to self-quarantine in the city where the team they play for is based, he said. Players whose family is in North America, in a city other than where they play, are allowed to go be with their family.
Teams are not practicing while the league is on hiatus and players are not permitted to use team facilities, such as weight rooms or the practice rink. That will change when the league is advised that it is safe to allow players to do so.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
