Bill Daly can see light at the end of the tunnel, but he’s not ready to declare the National Hockey League is going to return this summer.
While the NHL deputy commissioner is “optimistic” the league will be able to come back in some format during the summer, that he and commissioner Gary Bettman have a lot of options on the table after Florida Panthers’ president Matt Caldwell told reporters Wednesday morning the league will be back in July.
Not so fast, noted Daly, who added he had missed a call from Caldwell.
“I’m not sure the approach has really changed since the beginning of this,” Daly told this newspaper from his New York office Wednesday afternoon. “We have to be prepared for every eventuality. We need to do our due-diligence so that the time it takes for us to respond to the circumstances is basically that the work is done and the only thing that needs to be implemented is the decision.
“That’s kind of where we are. We’re doing all our due-diligence, we’re trying to read the tea leaves as well as anybody else can read the tea leaves in terms of what circumstances may present themselves. The social gathering restrictions seem like they’re going to have a long light than maybe originally hoped or anticipated so we’re deal with that possibility or probability that’s maybe not a certainty. We have to flexible, nimble and ready to respond as events continue to unfold.”
Daly added he feels this may be headed in the right direction.
“I will say that the last week to two weeks, in particular, have been more hopeful and optimistic that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel and we’re moving toward it,” he said. “I don’t know how long it will take us to get there and don’t know how broad or bright that light will be. I think we’re moving in the right direction.
“I won’t use the term confident because in my mind that puts it too far up the scale but I am optimistic. I remain optimistic, and part of my job is to optimistic, but there’s a basis for optimism. We had a GM conference call Monday and most of our clubs remain optimistic. We haven’t had a session with the players themselves, but the ones we have had they’re not only optimistic and they’re very, very anxious to get back if there’s an opportunity.
“That energizes us, for sure, because if only half of our equation wanted to come back and the other half was ambivalent, that’s not as positive if one side isn’t interested in return. I do have daily interactions with the NHLPA and both sides are interested in coming back if we can safely come back. First, and foremost, has to be the safety issue. The health and safety of our players, our fanbase and the general population as well. All those boxes have to be checked.”
Naturally, it’s not the preference, but at the start empty rinks sound like they may be the only option.
“It’s going to be different if it happen,” said Daly. “It’s not our preferred alternative, but if it’s only our alternative it’s certainly better than the alternative of not playing at all. There’s pent up interest and demand in professional sports that the public has been deprived of for six weeks now so I think there will be a real groundswell of interest and demand of seeing the product if we can present it some way.
“That should be infectious even if it’s not inside the building. There are unique ways you can bring that out. Like everything else, you have to see what’s possible and what’s not possible but we have every indication our fans remain engaged with us, the sport and want to see its return.”
Of course, Daly said it has to be done in a “safe environment” and readily-available testing will be part of the solution.
“Testing is an important part of the general re-opening of society so it will be important to us so we understand that people have to have their priorities right and until there’s adequate testing on a society-wide basis we shouldn’t be stepping in front of the line just for our own purposes,” Daly said.
“We understand the realities, but we have reason to believe the testing landscape is changing rapidly in a positive way. Hopefully, by the time we’re talking about being able to play hockey games, the testing is available to us in the amount and ways we need it.
Daly says the NHL hasn’t closed the door on the possibility of holding games in non-NHL cities like Manchester, N.H., Saskatoon and Grand Forks, N.D. but did say logistically it may make more sense for the league to focus on neutral site games in NHL cities with no fans. The idea may be to put divisions four different NHL cities, house players in the same hotel and severely limit the access to the rinks.
The reality is NHL cities may make sense because they can use hotels that already house teams and that may not be available in smaller venues on both sides of the border.
“No final decisions have been made,” said Daly. “We’ve highlighted what the benefits would be of playing in NHL cities and the primary benefit is an NHL-ready facility. They have our standards, our technology and have all the modern accoutrements that you’d need technologically in terms of broadcasting or creating a broadcast for the game. They have a lot of built in advantages that will be attractive.”
Daly confirmed the league has been in touch Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office to keep them up to date on what the NHL is thinking in terms of a return with seven franchises in Canada.
‘We’ve had contact with the Prime Minister’s office,” Daly said. “The purpose of opening the lines of communication is making sure that everybody knows what we’re thinking about and making sure there are no disconnects. It’s more a representation and commitment that we’ll keep those lines of communication open so that we’re not doing anything out of step with what the government wants either in Canada or the United States.
“We want to make sure we’re aligned with two countries where our teams play games.”
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