Those were the main takeaways from the Return to Play Plan unveiled by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday.
The NHL paused the season March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association will be careful about resuming it, from when they proceed to each phase of the plan, to where they choose to play games, to the precautions they will take each step of the way, most notably testing players each night during competition. That’s 25,000-30,000 tests at a cost of millions of dollars, Commissioner Bettman said.
And if they pull this off, the Stanley Cup champion won’t deserve an asterisk. How about an exclamation point? The NHL hasn’t faced a situation like this since 1919, when the Stanley Cup wasn’t awarded because of the Spanish Flu, and this format is unlike any other in NHL history. It’s arguably tougher than any other NHL history.
Twenty-four teams. Two hub cities. The top four teams from each conference will play a three-game round robin for seeding, while the others will play best-of-5 qualifying series to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The first two rounds of the playoffs will be best-of-5 or best-of-7; the final two rounds will be best-of-7.
The winner will have emerged from that while living in a bubble, undergoing daily testing and playing without the energy of fans in the arena for weeks (unless the situation changes), after weeks of self-quarantining and voluntary small-group workouts and mandatory training camp. Who wants it more? In this context, the question is not a cliché.
“Obviously, these are extraordinary and unprecedented times,” Commissioner Bettman said. “Any plan for the resumption of play, by definition, cannot be perfect, and I am certain that depending on which team you root for, you can find some element of this package that you might prefer to be done differently.
“But we believe we have constructed an overall plan that includes all teams that as a practical matter might have had a chance of qualifying for the playoffs when the season was paused, and this plan will produce a worthy Stanley Cup champion who will have run the postseason gauntlet that is unique to the NHL.”
The NHL and the NHLPA have not announced a date for voluntary small-group workouts, let alone for mandatory training camps or games, although they hope to begin workouts in June, camps in July and games in late July or early August.
They have not settled on hub cities, either, although Commissioner Bettman identified candidates, including Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vancouver.
That’s because they want to remain flexible in a fluid situation.
Commissioner Bettman said as eager as they are to return, they will not do anything until they are assured by medical professionals and relevant government authorities it is safe and prudent to do so, and they will choose hub cities based on COVID-19 conditions, testing availability and government regulations. Those could evolve in the coming weeks.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said teams would test players at least twice a week during small-group workouts and increase testing during training camps. The League will take over the protocol once teams travel to hub cities, testing players each night and delivering results before they leave their hotel rooms in the morning in case anyone needs to self-quarantine. Daly said isolated tests won’t necessarily derail the plan, but the NHL cannot have an outbreak.
That’s no small task for the teams, the League or the players.
“I don’t think [the players] were concerned about it,” NHLPA executive director Don Fehr said. “I think they would have been concerned if we didn’t have those kinds of protections in place. Look, they’re part of the community. They know what’s going on in the world. They want to make sure they’re protected but, just as importantly, their families are and everybody else they have to work with and so on.”
More telling details: The NHL expects to limit each team to 50 people in its traveling party and to strictly limit the support staff on the event level. It might use an international TV feed and keep broadcasters and reporters off site.
While one hub city will host the East and the other the West, geography doesn’t matter except in one respect. The NHL might not have a team play in its own city to prevent any appearance of a competitive advantage. There will be no fans in the stands, and the NHL wouldn’t want the players to go home as usual, anyway.
Safety and integrity.
It’s hard to imagine Commissioner Bettman awarding the Stanley Cup without fans in attendance, with whoops and hollers of players echoing in an empty arena. But in a time of social distancing, perhaps it could help bring people together.
“That would suggest that the world is beginning to return a little bit towards normal, and that’s something that everybody wants and is in everybody’s interest,” Fehr said. “And we can’t forget that.”
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
MacKenzie Weegar wasn’t bitter or upset as he watched friends live out their dreams.
The Calgary Flames defenceman just hopes to experience the same feeling one day. He also knows the road leading to that moment, if it does arrive, will likely be long and winding — much like his own path.
A seventh-round pick by the Florida Panthers at the 2013 NHL draft, Weegar climbed the ranks to become an important piece of a roster that captured the Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular-season club in 2021-22.
Two months later following a second-round playoff exit, he was traded to the Flames along with Jonathan Huberdeau for Matthew Tkachuk. And less than two years after that, the Panthers were hoisting the Stanley Cup.
“Happy for the city and for the team,” Weegar said of Florida’s June victory over the Edmonton Oilers. “There was no bad taste in my mouth.”
His sole focus, he insists, is squarely on eventually getting the Flames to the same spot. The landscape, however, has changed drastically since Weegar committed to Calgary on an eight-year, US$50-million contract extension in October 2022.
Weegar has watched a list that includes goaltender Jacob Markstrom, defencemen Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin and Nikita Zadorov and forwards Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane shipped out of town since the start of last season — largely for picks, prospects and young players as part of a rebuild.
Despite that exodus, he remains committed to the Calgary project steered by general manager Craig Conroy.
“It’s easy to get out of all whack when you see guys trying to leave or wanting new contracts,” the 30-year-old from Ottawa said at last week’s NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas. “I just focus on where I am and where I want to be, and that’s Calgary.
“I believe in this team. The city has taken me in right away. I feel like I owe it to them to stick around and grind through these years and get a Stanley Cup.”
The hard-nosed blueliner certainly knows what it is to grind.
After winning the Memorial Cup alongside Nathan MacKinnon with the Halifax Mooseheads in 2013, Weegar toiled in the ECHL and American Hockey League for three seasons before making his NHL debut late in the 2016-17 campaign with the Panthers.
He would spend the next five years in South Florida as one of the players tasked with shifting an organizational culture that had experienced little success over the previous two decades.
“There’s always going to be a piece of my heart and loyalty to that team,” Weegar said. “But now I’m in a different situation … I compete against all 32 teams, not just Florida. There’s always a chip on my shoulder every single year.”
Weegar set career highs with 20 goals — eight was the most he had ever previously registered — and 52 points in 2023-24 as part of a breakout offensive performance.
“I think my buddies cared a lot more than I did,” he said with a smile. “All I hear is, ‘fantasy, fantasy, fantasy.'”
Weegar was actually more proud of his 200 blocked shots and 194 hits as he looks to help set a new Flames’ standard alongside Huberdeau, captain Mikael Backlund, Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman and Rasmus Andersson for a franchise expected to have its new arena in time for the 2027-28 season.
“You have to build that culture and that belief in the locker room,” said Weegar, who pointed to 22-year-old centre Connor Zary as a player set to pop. “Those young guys are going to have to come into their own and be consistent every night … they’re the next generation.”
Weegar, however, isn’t punting on 2024-25. He pointed to the NHL’s parity and the fact a couple of teams surprise every season.
It’s the same approach that took him from the ECHL a decade ago to hockey’s premier pre-season event inside a swanky hotel on Sin City’s famed strip, where he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the game’s best.
“From the outside — media and even friends and family — the expectations are probably a bit lower,” Weegar said of Calgary’s outlook. “But there’s no reason to think that we can’t make playoffs and we can’t be a good team (with) that underdog mentality.
“You never know.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept 17, 2024.
Jose Maria Celestino da Costa was named vice-president and head of soccer operations while Marianne Brooks was appointed vice-president of partnerships, Kelly Shouldice as vice-president of brand and content and Joyce Sou as vice-president of finance and business operations.
The new six-team women’s pro league is set to kick off in April.
“Their unique expertise and leadership are crucial as we lay the foundation for not just a successful league in Canada, but one that stands among the top sports leagues in the world,” NSL president Christina Litz said in a statement. “By investing in top-tier talent and infrastructure, the Northern Super League is committed to creating a league that will elevate the game and set new standards for women’s professional soccer globally.”
Da Costa will oversee all on-field matters, including officiating. His resume includes stints with Estoril Praia, a men’s first-division team in Portugal, and the Portuguese Soccer Federation, where he helped develop the Portuguese women’s league.
Brooks spent a decade with Canucks Sports & Entertainment, working in “partnership sales and retention efforts” for the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Warriors, and Rogers Arena. Most recently, she served as senior director of account management at StellarAlgo, a software company that helps pro sports teams connect with their fans
Shouldice has worked for Corus Entertainment, the Canadian Football League, and most recently as vice-president of Content and Communications at True North Sports & Entertainment, where she managed original content as well as business and hockey communications.
Sou, who was involved in the league’s initial launch, will oversee financial planning, analysis and the league’s expansion strategy in her new role.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
