The United States-Canadian border remains closed to nonessential travel until May 18, which is one major roadblock when it comes to restarting the NHL season. Many players are currently residing in their hometowns, and are unable to return to their NHL cities.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked in a Sunday press briefing about NHL players potentially returning to their team's city before the border is reopened.
"I think it’s a question we’ll have to look into," Trudeau said. "Certainly at a strict minimum, anyone who arrives from another country will have to follow all the rules of quarantine in an extremely strict manner, but we’re not there yet in our discussions with the NHL."
"We recognize that it’s a possibility, but it depends on an enormous amount of things, and I don’t want to speculate on this until there’s more discussion."
Four Canadian teams -- the Maple Leafs, Oilers, Flames, and Jets -- were in a playoff position when the NHL paused its season, and the Canucks were a point shy of the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.
The NHL sent out a memo to its teams and players last week advising players who are currently living outside of their NHL team’s city to “consider whether to plan to return to their Club cities,” and that if the coronavirus situation continues to “trend favorably,” the league could potentially reopen its facilities in the “mid-to-later portion of May.”
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