NHL Heroes and Heels: It’s time to find a new hobby!

Heroes and Heels is a weekly NHL column highlighting the heroes and villains of the last week of hockey. This week… well we’ll find something to talk about eventually.

Welcome to the new normal without sports for the foreseeable future. The coronavirus has knocked the entire world — not just sports — flat on its back for what will likely be a very long time. Some sporting events, such as March Madness, won’t even be coming back at all this year after a week of cancellations and delays that has shattered the world as we know it.

It’s a lot to process, even days out from the first domino that fell on Wednesday when the NBA shuttered its doors after Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. Life as we know it won’t be getting back to normal anytime soon, and even though we are social distancing in this time period — and for good reason! — we are in this together and we’ll stay together no matter how bad it gets.

Since we now have much more time on our hands, I’ll end this segment with what I’m doing to pass the time each week until we (hopefully!) get sports back in our lives. Stay safe out there, folks!

What I’m watching: Westworld
What I’m playing: Final Fantasy VII, Overwatch

Hero: Hobbies!

What is there to do while social distancing? Well, quite a bit actually if you’re an NHL player with a bunch of free time on your hands!

Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson recently got a new puppy, Halle, and he’s been showcasing her to the world on social media.

Current AHLer J.T. Brown has been a Twitch streamer in his free time for awhile, and is using this time of social distancing for good.

Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Calvert is testing out a new position while on leave from his daily duties.

New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin built… a birdhouse?

And St. Louis Blues forward Tyler Bozak and his wife had a baby!

Life, it seems, is allowed to go on even in the midst of a pandemic. This is still early days for social distancing and self-quarantining, but it’s good to see the mood across the hockey world is one of positivity.

We are set to have a lot of time on our hands in the weeks to come, so it’s great to see the hockey world off to a good, healthy start to our life without sports until late-spring.

Heel: Corporate greed

As of Monday, there are four NHL teams not paying their arena workers for their lost hours during the temporary hiatus. Those teams are the Boston Bruins, Minnesota Wild, Buffalo Sabres and Vegas Golden Knights.

Previously, teams such as the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames had been on that list, but later changed their tunes on the notion of paying arena workers for their missed time during these difficult days.

Winnipeg Jets owner Mark Chipman came across particularly ghoulish when originally asked about paying arena workers through this process, though the team eventually changed course due to the backlash.

A note to any professional organizations somehow reading this article: Don’t be that person. Pay your employees during this time of hardship. It is the right thing to do, given utilities, rent payments and electricity bills will not stop coming during this unprecedented time.

This is bigger than a business now, and it’s certainly bigger than sports. The ramifications of coronavirus will be far-reaching for a long time, and it will be a difficult time for many. Now is the time to be charitable so we can help those less fortunate than ourselves make it through with as little difficulty as possible.

Sure, you likely won’t get as much press for doing the right thing, but people will no doubt remember the character you showed in these tough times. Decisions, decisions!

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