As TSN reported yesterday, some NHL players proposed an idea of continuing the season in late July, which also includes an option of opening training camps earlier that month. According to this idea, the NHL playoffs would start in August and the Stanley Cup would be awarded during September. The offseason will be shortened to just one month and the new 2020-21 season would start in November.
INSIDER TRADING: #TSNHockey Insiders discuss…
– Players’ proposal for August-September postseason & new season starting in November
– Need for players’ voices in this process
– #NHL plans/review during pause period
– Latest on player testingWATCH 🌎: https://t.co/4jeukHwGUE pic.twitter.com/S5s3HydIqc
— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) March 17, 2020
At this moment, the NHL is open to new ideas and we will hear probably a lot of them in the next couple of months while the NHL season pause continues. Yesterday, we wrote about 24 team playoff format.
Meanwhile, the first NHL player has tested positive for COVID-19. According to several reports, the Ottawa Senators player, whose name haven’t been revealed yet, was infected during their trip to California. The Senators played against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night, a day after the Brooklyn Nets, the NBA team that reported yesterday that four of their players tested positive for COVID-19, faced the Los Angeles Lakers.
Multiple Senators are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. It may not just be one player.
And it appears they got it from an NBA team on the last day before the NHL shutdown. Story: https://t.co/WyAQR4AyTw
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) March 18, 2020
The unnamed Senators player has mild symptoms and is in isolation. Per Hailey Salvian and James Mirtle of the Athletic, multiple Senators players are having COVID-19 symptoms and waiting for test results.
The KHL also officially announced the suspension of the season till April In accordance with the recommendations of the Ministry of Sport of Russian Federation. Earlier this week, two KHL teams – HC Jokerit from Helsinki and HC Barys Nur-Sultan – announced their withdrawl from the KHL playoffs
🏒⚽🏀 pic.twitter.com/xYJJY2GrXi
— KHL (@khl_eng) March 17, 2020
The QMJHL announced the cancellation of all the remaining games in the 2019-20 season. According to Bob McKenzie, the WHL will follow their path and the OHL will discuss this option today.
The #QMJHL announces that all the remaining games of the 2019-20 schedule have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
— QMJHL (@QMJHL) March 17, 2020
The WHL will be following the same path as the QMJHL. The OHL has a governors’ conference call tomorrow, at which time it will be no surprise if the OHL also cancels the regular season. https://t.co/Fzf3JMR8SJ
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) March 17, 2020
Other News
While not hockey related, we did get some big Tampa area sports news yesterday. According to multiple reports, it sounds like one of the greatest players in NFL history is expected to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers today. Tom Brady announced yesterday that he will not be returning to the New England Patriots after 20 seasons with the team that drafted him.
The story of the off-season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has been whether or not Jameis Winston would be the quarterback in 2020, and possibly beyond. The story of the off-season for the NFL has been Tom Brady and his future.
Quite rapidly, both storylines seemed to collide, really gaining steam when Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians mentioned Brady as a player he’d pick up the phone to talk to when the time came to potentially pursue outside quarterback options.
Those phone calls did in fact happen, and Arians did in fact get his man.
The NFL’s own Twitter account posted the below report, where NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport states that an agreement between both the Bucs and Brady is in place.
For all the updates on what’s happening with Brady, head over to Bucs Nation.
