NHL commissioner Gary Bettman took offence to the notion that the league, teams or players might not abide by, or may try to evade, the COVID-19 protocol that will be an integral part to holding the Stanley Cup playoffs in Toronto and Edmonton.
Notably, any player who tests positive must self-isolate and be removed from team activities until deemed free of the coronavirus.
“I think the question — not to push back on it too hard — presumes a level of dishonesty and a lack of integrity (that we) and the people we serve would reject categorically,” Bettman said during a Saturday video conference call. “The fact is that all of us, and everybody we serve, understands the importance and the seriousness of what we’re dealing with.
“And I don’t think anybody is going to want to be involved in playing games with the truth, the facts and the reality of what we’re all dealing with.”
Bettman, deputy commissioner Bill Daly, players’ association head Don Fehr and his special assistant, former player Mathieu Schneider, assembled for a video conference call to tout their double achievement: a collective agreement coupled with a return-to-play outline that will see training camps open Monday for 24 teams and the Stanley Cup now up for grabs.
The protocol is a big reason why the federal and provincial governments are allowing the tournament at all, with teams given exemptions from the 14-day quarantine rules that otherwise apply when someone crosses the border into Canada. A player who tests positive or shows symptoms of the contagious virus must be isolated from everyone else until he passes two tests, as well as a doctor’s appraisal.
In the middle of a pandemic with more than 600 players and team officials set to descend on Toronto and an equal number in Edmonton, trust is an issue.
NHLers are famous for playing through injuries and hiding illnesses with the Stanley Cup on the line. Doctors and other observers have questioned whether teams and the league even follow their own protocols when it comes to diagnosing concussions.
“If concussions were contagious, I think players would feel differently about it,” said Schneider. “And I think the guys certainly understand the notion that if they are not honest with symptoms, or how they might feel, that they put their entire team in jeopardy.”
NHL officials recently announced 35 players had tested positive for COVID-19, without any further details, and they don’t intend to release the names of anyone who tests positive going forward. They will also refrain from announcing any injuries during the playoffs, to mask whether players have COVID-19 or some other ailment.
“I think the interests of medical privacy are important, and we’re going to protect them,” said Daly.
Toronto Mayor John Tory said he had “a high level of optimism they will follow the protocols. I think that they also understand that if they don’t, the whole tournament could come apart. There’s a lot at stake here.”
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