NHL teams return to practice in season like no other

In this June 23, 2013, file photo, Chicago Blackhawks right wing Marian Hossa, of Slovakia, hoists the Stanley Cup after the Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 in Game 6 of the NHL hockey finals in Boston.An NHL season like no other resumes on Monday, when the Maple Leafs and 23 other teams return to practice for the first time in four months after a pause because of the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Once the season starts anew, three games a day will be played in Edmonton and Toronto, with 12 teams from the Eastern Conference all competing at Scotiabank Arena and the remainder from the Western Conference at Rogers Place. The arena in downtown Edmonton has been chosen to hold both the Eastern and Western Conference finals and the Stanley Cup final.

The NHL season was suspended on March 12, one day after Rudy Gobert of the NBA’s Utah Jazz tested positive for COVID-19. The Maple Leafs last played on March 10, a 2-1 victory on home ice over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Toronto was close to locking down a playoff berth with a dozen regular-season games to go when play was halted.

Players will be separated by hotel floors in each city and will have to undergo testing for COVID-19 each day. The league and the NHL Players’ Association agreed to a lengthy list of safety measures, which includes players being made to stay within the secure zone, stay in single-occupancy hotels, wear gloves and masks when not on the ice, and not speak in elevators and touch the buttons with their elbow.

“The NHL has done a great job of adapting and recognizing playoff races weren’t over. I think things are set up very fairly.” The Maple Leafs will welcome 18 forwards, 12 defencemen and four goaltenders to Monday’s practice in the suburbs. The list includes Jake Muzzin and Ilya Mikehev, who were both missing from the lineup when the season was suspended in March.

Wow, when you put it that way.

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