Positive cases not derailing NHL’s plan to open camps on July 10 (maple leafs)

maple leafs

Positive cases not derailing NHL’s plan to open camps on July 10

By Mike Augello

Jun 20, 2020 • 1:30 pm

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For the latest Leafs updates or on Twitter The National Hockey League confirmed on Friday that since the league entered Phase 2 of their Return to Play Plan earlier this month and opened their practice facilities for workouts and limited work on the ice, that 11 players have tested positive for the COVID-19 Coronavirus. “All players entering these facilities for voluntary training have been subject to mandatory testing for COVID-19. Through today, in excess of 200 Players have undergone multiple testing. A total of 11 of these Players have tested positive.… the league said in a press release on Friday. “All Players who have tested positive have been self-isolated and are following CDC and Health Canada protocols.…

A report from the Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons on Friday indicated that one of the 11 was Toronto Maple Leafs leading scorer Auston Matthews, who has been staying at his home in Scottsdale, AZ since just after the league shutdown on March 12.

Other reports indicated that three Tampa Bay Lightning players have also tested positive. All have self-quarantined since being diagnosed and are hopeful to be recovered in time for the beginning of Phase 3 (training camp) on July 10. The Lightning released a statement confirming the positive cases and that their training facilities were being temporarily closed down. The Leafs chose not to specifically confirm the report regarding Matthews, citing NHL protocol. “A person’s medical information in this regard is private. The club will defer to the NHL’s policy on handling the disclosure of positive test results, in that the league will provide updates on a regular basis with aggregate totals of tests conducted and number of positive tests reported without disclosing either the identities or the affected clubs otr players.… While this news along with reports of numerous Tampa Bay Lightning players and team personnel testing positive in Florida and forcing the temporary shutdown of their practice facilities is bad, the fact that they were discovered just under a month before the start of training camp leaves enough time to recover and participate. At this point, the league has not made any indication that they will push back the start of training camps (with just under three weeks to go), likely choosing to see how testing of players trends in the near future. In fact, the NY Post's Larry Brooks reported on Saturday that NHL GM's in a meeting on Friday decided that training camps will last two weeks, with teams traveling to their respective hub cities on July 23 or 24 before playing one exhibition game and beginning the play-in round on July 30. Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston and Elliotte Friedman reported that while Las Vegas remains a favorite to be one of the two hub cities selected, the recent spike of cases in some regions of the US and decreasing or near non-existent amount of cases in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Toronto may increase the odds of one or possibly both hub cities being located in Canada.

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