Things are not exactly bursting with activity in Brossard where Paul Byron, Jonathan Drouin, Charles Hudon, Laurent Dauphin and Michael McNiven are the only Habs training. Meanwhile, in Tampa, 3 players and 2 staff members tested positive for Covid-19 prompting the Lightning the shut down its facilities until its safe to open them again. No news got more attention than the fact that Auston Matthews has now tested positive however. Matthews has been at home in Arizona since the start of the lockdown and while goalie Frederik Andersen stayed with him for a while, it is not the case anymore. Yesterday, the NHL confirmed that 200 players have been submitting to regular testing since the start of phase 2 of return to play and that 11 were positive:
While some see the fact hat the Lightning had to close its facilities as a sign that the NHL's plan may be doomed, there are precedents for sports leagues returning in spite of some positive results. For instance, the English Premier League resumed its activities on Wednesday after 8 rounds of testing in the run-up to the return gave the following results:
Round 1: 17-18 May - 748 tested, with six testing positive from three clubs.
Round 2: 19-22 May - 996 tested, with two testing positive from two clubs.
Round 3: 25-26 May - 1,008 tested, with four testing positive from two clubs.
Round 4: 28-29 May - 1,130 tested, with zero testing positive.
Round 5: 1-2 June - 1,197 tested, with one testing positive.
Round 6: 4-5 June - 1,195 tested, with zero testing positive.
Round 7: 8-9 June - 1,213 tested, with one testing positive.
Round 8: 11-12 June - 1,200 tested, with two testing positive from two clubs.
Looking at these numbers, you can see that the virus seems to be pretty well contained, it will be interesting to see what he NHL numbers are like in their weekly upgrade. A New York paper reports today that the start of the 24 team play-in round should be on July 30th while the teams will be expected to go to the hub cities from July 23-24. With the Canadian government allowing the league's return to play plan, it looks like another hurdle has fallen for the league. The fact that Vegas is still a rumoured hub city is a concern however if one looks at the number of cases reported daily in the state of Nevada. Some reports also say that the identity of the 2 hub cities could be known this week.
In other news, the draft lottery should be held on Friday. Well, the first phase of the lottery anyways which will include the 7 teams who did not qualify for the play-in round and 8 place holders who will be the 8 teams who lose the play-in round. As the Habs were the last team to qualify for the play-in round, they will have a 6% chance of winning the lottery. The complete odds are as follows:
Detroit Red Wings (.275) -- 18.5 percent chance for No. 1 pick
Ottawa Senators (.437) -- 13.5 percent
Ottawa Senators (from San Jose Sharks, .450) -- 11.5 percent
Los Angeles Kings (.457) -- 9.5 percent
Anaheim Ducks (.472) -- 8.5 percent
New Jersey Devils (.493) -- 7.5 percent
Buffalo Sabres (.493) -- 6.5 percent
Qualifier Team A -- 6.0 percent
Qualifier Team B -- 5.0 percent
Qualifier Team C -- 3.5 percent
Qualifier Team D -- 3.0 percent
Qualifier Team E -- 2.5 percent
Qualifier Team F -- 2.0 percent
Qualifier Team G -- 1.5 percent
Qualifier Team H -- 1.0 percent
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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