TSN: Darren Dreger yesterday on TSN on fans asking ‘why is this taking so long?’
** NHLRumors.com transcriptions
“Ya, probably tired of asking that question, like the rest of us Gino, to be fair. But both sides, the National Hockey League and the Players Association acknowledged today that they are in fact making progress.
I think what the average hockey fan has to appreciate is, this is a little different than the return to play in the summer. It is all-encompassing with so many teams clearly involved in this process. So there is a terrific amount of legal work that is being done. They’re sharing documents back and forth. They worked throughout the weekend, but they are in fact making progress. So it sounds good.”
Reda asking Dreger how much contact teams are having with their players and if most of them are making their way back.
“Ya, I would say the majority of NHL players are making their way back. That’s not because they’ve been directed by their NHL team, the league, or the Players Association. It’s just amid all the work that’s being done, common sense prevails. But teams are talking directly with their players and there is a sense of urgency here.
You know, if you use Vancouver as an example here. You have the Canucks have players in Europe, they have players in the United States, those players have to be in Vancouver to meet the 14-day quarantine guidelines by December 19th. That’s not that far away if you remain on path of January 3rd opening of training camp and January 13th start of the 2020-21 season.”
Reda asks about the NHL’s hope that all 31 teams can play in their home arenas at some point this season and what’s expectation on how the season could end up starting.
“That would be the perfect world. That is the focus right now, is to play in every NHL arena, but there has to be other scenarios and other options. Plan B is to play in a short-term hub or hubs if you will, which would involve the separate divisions, all four decisions through re-alignment. But again, the focus today is playing in every NHL arena.”