NHL players say they are still hesitant about a return to play

NHL players are growing frustrated with the league over a lack of safety protocol.

The NHL is creeping ever closer to July 10, the date that training camps are scheduled to begin, and there has still been no announcements regarding safety protocol for the league’s return to play or even just the hub cities that the season will take place in. Understandably, the players are losing their patience with the league and are still hesitant about returning to play at all.

In a thread by Sportsnet’s Eric Engels on Twitter, Engels revealed his anonymous discussions with players from across the league who expressed their concerns about a return to play.

One player estimated that 75 percent of players do not want to return to play this summer, citing concerns about contracting the virus or suffering a serious injury ahead of the next season, whenever that may be. Another player claimed that the calls between the league NHLPA have been “a joke” that have only focused on the financial situation and not safety protocol.

According to Engels, all players he spoke to just want to some clarity on what their life is going to look like if they go through with this, and just how safe they will be in the proposed bubble.

The players are absolutely justified with their frustration with the league. July 10 is under two weeks away, and there are still next to no answers on anything that actually matters outside of the 24-team playoff format. There’s still no hub cities, no game schedule, and obviously no safety protocol.

Yesterday the NHL announced that 15 of the 250 players who had returned for optional practices had tested positive for Covid-19, and that 11 additional players who tested positive outside of the Phase 2 protocol. The NHL is hoping to get all positive tests down to zero once all players are in the bubble, but there is still no indication how that will work yet, even as other leagues like the NBA and MLS have announced their return to play plans.

But at least the NHL made sure that the draft lottery is all figured out, right? Nope, because the first overall pick still won’t be determined until after the play-in round.

Even though the hub cities announcement was supposed to come last week, hopefully it will come in the next couple of days because this is getting ridiculous. You cannot expect the players to be on board with anything before they even know where they’re going. It’s time for the NHL to figure this out once and for all.