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Adam Silver: ‘The data, not the date’ will determine NBA’s return to action – Sportsnet.ca

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The NBA was the first of the major sports leagues in North America to shut down in the face of COVID-19. More than a month later, they are no closer to knowing when they might return to action.

Pledging that it’s about “the data, not the date,” commissioner Adam Silver said the league can only gather information and wait on a Friday evening conference call which follows a regularly-scheduled board of governors meeting — one that would have normally taken place on the eve of the NBA playoffs.

“We all have to accept that we’re operating with incomplete facts here,” said Silver. “There is an enormous amount about the virus that is yet to be learned.”

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He added: “We are not in any position to make a decision [about returning to play] and it’s not clear when we will be.”

Silver acknowledged that while “there is great symbolism around sports in [the United States] and to the extent that we do find a path back it will be very meaningful for Americans … we’re not at the point where we can say if [conditions] A, B, and C are met, then there is a clear path.

“There is still too much uncertainty at this point to say how precisely we move forward. The underlying principal remains the health and safety of NBA players and everyone involved, we begin with that as paramount and the decision tree moves forward from there”

Silver said the league would be monitoring the rate of infections, the availability of wide-scale testing, the progress of potential vaccines and the potential anti-viral medications as part of any return-to-play decision, however distant.

“There is a lot of data,” he said.

Richard Deitsch and Donnovan Bennett host a podcast about how COVID-19 is impacting sports around the world. They talk to experts, athletes and personalities, offering a window into the lives of people we normally root for in entirely different ways.

According to previous reports, the expectation is that teams and players would need about 25 days to get ready for any return and the league has been considering scenarios where the 2019-20 season is extended into July and August.

But Silver said any talk that the NBA could return to play without fans in a single, quarantined location such as at Las Vegas casino — the so-called “bubble-concept” — is premature.

“Many [ideas] have been proposed and we’ve only listened,” said Silver, who stressed that any return to play would have to preceded by assurances that front-line healthcare workers were properly cared for in terms of testing and PPE. “We’re not seriously engaged yet in that type of environment, because I can’t answer what precisely we would need to see to feel that environment provided the health and safety we would need to see for our players and everyone involved.

“As I sit here today there is too much unknown to set a timeline, there is too much unknown to say ‘these are the precise variables’ … we’re not in a position to know more at this point.”

Silver said that the NBA and their owners are eager to return to play this season but with significant caveats.

“My sense of NBA team owners is that, if they can be part of the movement to restart our economy, that includes the NBA. They almost see that as a civic obligation,” he said. “… But when dealing with human life, that trumps anything else we can possibly talk about. That’s sort of where the conversations began and ended today.”

Silver also confirmed an early report by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN that the league and NBA Players Association have agreed on a mechanism to withhold money from the players should games end up being cancelled due to COVID-19.

Players will be paid in full on May 1 but will have their cheques trimmed by 25 per cent — according to a formula within the CBA — beginning on May 15th with salary reductions extending into the first two months of the 2020-21 season.

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The NBA and the players share basketball-related income on a roughly 51-49 split in favour of the players. To allow room for any adjustments, players already have 10 per cent of their salary — about $380 million total — held in escrow in case revenues fall short of projections. As long as revenues meet expectations, the players receive the money held in escrow at the end of the fiscal year.

But with the league having halted operations, it is anticipated that revenues will fall short of even the 10 per cent held in escrow. By reducing salaries now the league won’t have to chase players for money after the fact and any potential loss of income for the players will be introduced on a gradual basis.

The CBA has a never-before-used “force majeure” provision that allows owners to claw back salaries due to revenue losses stemming from “unforeseeable circumstances.” It is automatically triggered once games are officially cancelled due to things like epidemics, pandemics or government order.

According to the Associated Press, the CBA stipulates that players lose approximately 1.09 per cent of salary per canceled game, based on the force majeure provision. Given that there are 259 regular-season games left to be played, if they are cancelled players would stand to lose about $800-million in gross salary.

Once there is a cancellation of games, the force majeure is automatically triggered under the language of the CBA.

The NBA was the first of the major professional sports league to shut down a decision that came in the wake of a positive test for Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert on March 11.

In earlier statements, Silver has said that he wouldn’t provide any guidance on next steps for the league until May 1 given the uncertainty of the landscape.

He said Friday that his outlook hasn’t changed and that there was no guarantee that there would be any clear guidelines to offer at that point either.

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Allen on trade to Devils from Habs: 'Sometimes you've got to be a little bit selfish' – Yahoo Canada Sports

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Jake Allen loved being a member of the Montreal Canadiens.

The hockey-mad market, the crackling Bell Centre on a Saturday night, the Original Six franchise’s iconic logo.

The 33-year-old goaltender is also realistic.

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With the Canadiens still in full rebuild mode — and two young netminders in Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau ready for more playing time — Allen could see the writing on the wall.

Desperate for help in their own crease, the New Jersey Devils asked Montreal about the veteran’s availability. But the team, general manager Tom Fitzgerald told reporters earlier this month, was initially on Allen’s no-trade list.

There wasn’t anything the Fredericton product disliked about the organization or city. The Devils simply appeared to have their crease set for years to come.

But when the club that finished with 112 points and made the second round of the playoffs in 2022-23 was badly hampered by poor play from Vitek Vanecek, Nico Daws and Akira Schmid — each netminder owned save percentages below .900 — the Devils circled back.

And Allen had changed his tune.

“Loved my time as a Hab,” he said of pulling on Montreal’s red, white and blue threads. “I always will cherish that. Put on probably the most special jersey in hockey, in my books. But you realize in your career, it doesn’t last forever.

“You’ve got to make decisions sometimes.”

Allen, who is signed through next season, eventually agreed to a deal that sent him to New Jersey ahead of the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline for a conditional third-round pick at the 2025 draft.

Apart from playing meaningful hockey on a team trying to claw its way back into the Eastern Conference playoff race, the swap gave him more runway to get his family settled in a new city instead of waiting to see what this summer’s crowded goalie market might bring.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be a little bit selfish,” said Allen, a Stanley Cup champion with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. “Look yourself in the mirror and wonder what’s best for you and your family.”

He’s been really good for his new team.

Allen was lights out in Tuesday’s first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs, making an eye-popping 25 saves in what would turn into New Jersey’s 6-3 victory.

So far he’s 4-2-0 with a .925 save percentage and a 2.51 goals against average in six starts for the Devils, who sit five points back of the East’s second wild-card spot.

“A real pro,” said interim head coach Travis Green.

Allen is a combined 10-14-3 in 2023-24 with a .900 save percentage and a 3.39 GAA. Across his 11 seasons with St. Louis, Montreal and now New Jersey, he’s 193-164-41 with a .908 save percentage and 2.75 GAA.

“Makes the saves we need to get some momentum back,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “If you have a solid goalie in the net, that makes your work easier.”

Allen is also 11-12 with a .924 and a 2.06 GAA all-time in the playoffs — a good sign for his new club should New Jersey manage to make the cut.

For now, though, he’s just enjoying being back in a post-season race.

“I thought this was a good opportunity to come in the rest of this year, play some games,” Allen said.

“It’s been a good start.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2024.

___

Follow @JClipperton_CP on X.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press

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Matthews game-time decision for Maple Leafs against Capitals with illness – NHL.com

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TORONTOAuston Matthews will be a game-time decision for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, MNMT) because of an illness.

“It’s going to be on how he feels throughout the day,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.

The forward did not participate in Toronto’s morning skate. Max Domi took his place as the center on a line between Tyler Bertuzzi and Mitch Marner, a right wing recovering from a high-ankle sprain sustained March 7 and will be out the next two games.

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Matthews leads the NHL with 59 goals, one from becoming the ninth player in NHL history with at least two 60-goal seasons. He scored 60 in 73 games in 2021-22, when he won the Rocket Richard Trophy, Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. He had one goal and nine shots in 23:44 of a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, which extended his point streak to five games (four goals, seven assists).

He missed one game this season with illness, a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 16.

“Of course, it’s an adjustment when your best player is out of the lineup,” Domi said, “when anybody is out of the lineup, but I think we’ve done a great job all year of guys stepping up when they have to, and we just have to continue to do that.”

Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury.

“He just remains day to day,” Keefe said. “We’re hopeful he’s going to bounce back here. The one thing that is good is once he gets through this day or two here, it’s not going to be a lingering situation. It’s not going to be an injury that’s ongoing. Once he’s past it, he’s past it so we just need to give him some time.”

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Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list

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The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.”

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

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Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout.

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign.

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League.

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

 

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford.

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said.

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday.

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13.

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

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