The NHL and NHLPA have formed a Return to Play committee to develop plans to potentially restart the NHL season, according to a report by the New York Post's Larry Brooks on Saturday.
Brooks reports that the committee is comprised of commissioner Gary Bettman, deputy commissioner Bill Daly, and senior vice presidents Colin Campbell and Steve Hatze Petros on the NHL side, and Donald Fehr, Mathieu Schneider, general counsel Don Zavelo, divisional representative Steve Webb, and players John Tavares, Connor McDavid, James van Riemsdyk and Ron Hainsey on the NHLPA side. Medical advisers also participate in discussions, which are held over conference calls.
Daly on Friday told TSN that he doesn't believe that if the season were to restart, a player or multiple players testing positive for coronavirus would necessarily shut down the entire season again. Daly did tell Brooks though that anyone who tests positive "would be immediately removed from the mix.”
Bettman told Sportsnet earlier this week that one plan being discussed involves playing out the remainder of the season with teams centralized in "as many as four" locations, which wouldn't necessarily be divided by division. One idea that is now off the table is playing out the remainder of the season in neutral site college rinks like in North Dakota or New Hampshire, due to the quality and size of the facilities and inability to support multiple television broadcasts simultaneously.
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