NHL and NHLPA to still decide on roster sizes
Pierre LeBrun: The NHL and NHLPA are still negotiating roster sizes. The NHL has suggested that they go with 28 skates plus goaltenders. This could change depending on the NHLPA. They are still negotiating Phase 3 and Phase 4.
Canucks won’t open up facilities until there is the demand
Iaian MacIntyre of Sportsnet: Only four Vancouver Canucks had remained in Vancouver during the league shutdown – Alex Edler, Chris Tanev, Troy Stecher and Josh Leivo. Leivo has stayed to get medical treatment. The Canucks won’t open up their facilities until more players are in town and there is more demand.
“We can’t order players to report back here,” Canucks general manager Jim Benning said Friday. “Until training camp starts, this is all optional for them. There are only three players here and they all have ice available (privately). We’ll continue to watch what’s happening and when there are enough players, we can re-open our facilities pretty quickly. But right now they’re still closed.”
Culture in the NHL is changing. The league is creating councils, committees and task forces
TSN: NHL executive vice-president of social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs Kim Davis on the protests and what has changed.
“We know just culturally for our sport, that it has just not been our practice for players to speak up on almost any issue, but for sure social justice kinds of issues,” said Davis, who added at least 110 NHLers have posted to social media. “I’ve had people comment all week that for our league to use race and Black Lives (Matter) in the same sentence is unprecedented.
“This is a huge moment for us, an appropriate moment, and I think it’s going to take us yet to another level of opportunity and change.”
Nicolas Cotsonika of NHL.com: The NHL is in the process of creating an Executive Inclusion Council and Player Inclusion Committee. There will be task force for the development of coaches and officials. There are currently four black assistant coaches, six total of color, and only one is on the bench during games, Mike Greer with the Devils.
Davis when asked what she hopes it will be like in five or 10 years.
“Numbers don’t mean anything if you don’t have the right culture and you don’t have the right systems in place, and so my goal and my work, in my estimation, is to create the systems, the education, the advocacy, the policies, so that we don’t have to have a firestorm … but we have systems in place so that they know where these potential pipelines of talent are, front office pipelines, coaching pipelines, player pipelines.”
