If there’s one thing the NHL has made clear since the moment they placed the season on hold it’s that they will do whatever they can to make sure it was postponed and not canceled. Every piece of news that’s come out of the league since March 12th has pointed towards a devotion to return to the ice this year and award the 2019-20 Stanley Cup, no matter what that means for the future schedule.
However, with every day that ticks away without any concrete plans to return, it feels less and less likely that it will ever become a reality. Most return to play scenarios being thrown around are scheduled to take months before the teams ever hit the ice to play a game.
But, according to the Golden Knights President of Hockey Operations, George McPhee, it shouldn’t take nearly as long as what most expect to get the players back up to speed and ready to start playing meaningful games.
I think after a week or 10 days of skating they’d be fine. Are they really going to want four weeks? I don’t think so. After a week of hard skating, they’ll probably be saying ‘You know what, I’d rather be playing than practicing, so let’s get going.’ –George McPhee on Vegas Hockey Hotline
That’s a drastic difference from what we’ve normally been hearing in regards to how long the “camp” has to be to get the players fully conditioned.
And this is coming from a guy who not only has been a GM in the NHL for over 20 years, but also played more than 100 NHL games himself. Like everyone, he’s never been through something like this, but if anyone can predict how players will react to a situation it’s him.
If the league says you’ve got two weeks or a week to 10 days, ok, let’s go. It doesn’t matter to us, we’ll just be ready to go. –McPhee on Vegas Hockey Hotline
The fans will be ready too.
The entire interview with George McPhee on Vegas Hockey Hotline with Brian Blessing can be found here. We’ll have another story from this interview later in the week.
Noodle King
LET GO, FFS…….. I NEED SOME HOCKEY !!!
"DOC"
Noodle King ….. Love it !
NEWS
BREAKING NEWS—-
Jack Dugan signs with VGK
2 year entry level contract
Jim
As usual everyone missing key point.
The issue is not how many days of practice it’s WHEN ARE THOSE 10 DAYS OF PRACTICE GOING TO START???
It’s that day they are not going to get to. The number of issues to resolve are too numerous. Can’t even get players in same country till June then testing, isolation, then training camp…and that’s just the players…which probably only 50 % of people involved. Big dream.
Daryl
Jim…. what are you talking about???? What travel ban are you referring to which would stop players from getting in and out of the country? As for testing, the turnaround time to get results back is about 2 days. Isolation itself is 5 days max. If anything you test everyone to start then isolate for a week. At the end of that week you start mini training camp. That gives you a total of 3 weeks MAX before you could get hockey started back up.
"DOC"
I completely agree with McGM. A month is wayyyy to long. After a week of hard practices the boys will be chomping at the bit to get going! 10 days sounds about right at maximum. I think the league will steer more to that way of thinking as we get closer. (I hope we are getting closer) PS – Great news on the signing of Dugan. DOC
Daryl
I completely agree… As I stated in a previous article, we are talking about professional athletes. With the possibility always being to continue the season these athletes know they need to stay in shape. Yes they will need some ice time/oractice before starting back up but after 10 days I think they will be good to go
Jim
What are you talking about???
Isolation is 10 -14 days….you don’t know about travel bans??? Where have you been for last two months? Is your last name Trump???
Players in Europe can’t get here. Canada not letting anyone in from USA…..are you living in a closet???
Daryl
Jim… spoken like a Democrat. Let me clarify…. the onset of the symptoms from time of contract is said to be around 5 days. Isolation can be extended up to 14 days if symptoms arise. That doesn’t mean everyone has to be isolated for 2 weeks. As for travel, you can return from Europe and there is no isolation period. For Canada, you can return to Canada but they require a 14 day self-isolation period. You may want to look at an updated list for travel, what you have referred to was back in March. I’ve helped by providing a link at the bottom. And this isolation that travelers have to go thru would work out perfectly. They return to the US or Canada, they are tested right away and in the mean time they isolate for 14 days. Now it’s done with and they are ready for practice!!!
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/covid-19-information.html
And for the record, I’m an Independent that did vote for Trump b/c there is no way in hell I would vote for Clinton. And the Democrats are going to lose again with the moron they will be selecting to run against him