The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association have signed a preliminary agreement on phase 3 and 4 protocols to open training camps and continue the 2019-20 season in safe “bubbles” in Toronto and Edmonton.
The two sides continue to develop language and details for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on an upcoming new six-year collective agreement.
Once agreed, the entire package – the Phase 3 and 4 protocols and the CBA extension – must be ratified by both the NHL Board of Governors and full membership of the NHLPA. These votes are expected to take place sometime this week.
At the moment, for the first time, all details are known that relate to how the NHL wants to operate and maintain a so-called “safe zone”:
> In the bubble: Each team may bring a maximum of 52 people into the security zone, including owners, players, coaches, managers and employees.
The teams may not bring more than 31 players. The list of each traveling part must be submitted to the NHL by July 13th. The day the training camps are due to open.
Each team consists of at least one doctor, a safety officer, a compliance officer for phase 4 of the club and a content creator / social media member who is represented in the travel group.
> Test: Every person in the “bladder” of the NHL is tested daily for COVID-19 using a nasal swab. In addition, temperature tests and symptom examinations are carried out.
The list of people who need to be tested daily is extensive and includes among others: all players, employees, officials, arena ice crew, security guards, hotel bartenders, food service employees, employees in the arena for food and beverages, Hotel housekeeping, hotel kitchen and food prep staff and bus drivers. Put simply, every person who has contact or can come into contact (also indirectly) is tested daily.
With 24 teams in the bladder (with 52 people per team), this is 1,248 tests that are only required for team personnel on a daily basis. If you add all the other levels, it’s easy to imagine that the NHL needs more than 2,000 tests a day to start the 24-team tournament. That is 20,000 tests in the first 10 days alone.
> Get: At any time before or during the game in the 24-man tournament, the NHL and NHLPA have the option to postpone, delay, postpone or cancel games if the conditions pose a “risk to the health and safety of the players” and / or the game compromise competition integrity. “
These conditions may include “an uncontrolled outbreak of COVID-19 in players from one or more clubs” participating in the tournament. The protocol did not contain a specific number of positive cases to define the “uncontrolled outbreak” threshold. The NHL has claimed that one or more isolated positive tests will not stop the game.
The NHLPA can challenge any decision by Commissioner Gary Bettman in the form of an “expedited arbitration of a complaint” before an impartial arbitrator.
> Compliance: Any team that violates the rules set out in the protocol will be subject to “significant penalties, possibly including fines and / or loss of draft picks”. Any player who refuses to follow the test and monitoring protocol may not participate and may need to be permanently removed from the bladder.
> Opt-out: Any player, for any reason and without penalty, may choose not to participate in the return-to-play tournament. The cancellation period ends three days after ratification of this return-to-play protocol package by a vote that is expected to be available to players at least until July 13 when the list of each tour group is due.
> Bubble life: Every bubble is firmly secured, no one can get in or out who is not authorized. The players live in single occupancy rooms without roommates, with each team being assigned specific floors. Players are not allowed to enter each other’s rooms. The cleaning service takes place every third day. Hotel bars and restaurants are open and available in the bubble provided social distance is maintained.
Players have access to the hotel pool and fitness center. Each club receives a designated meeting room in the hotel. Each person also has access to contactless room service and delivery of local restaurants that are available for pickup.
The NHL is also planning league-approved excursions both inside and outside the bubble. Think of set tee times at a local golf club, etc. All transportation to / from the excursion and social distance, face covering, and personal hygiene measures are mandatory. There are also outdoor areas for walking, training and mixing on the campus.
> Masks mandatory: A towel or surgical mask must be worn by everyone in the bladder outside their hotel room. Masks can be removed while exercising and playing on ice, as well as while eating and / or drinking. Trainers do not have to wear masks on the bench. On-ice officials do not have to wear masks during the game. The broadcasters and players surveyed also do not have to wear a mask, provided that an appropriate social distance is maintained.
> Arrive in the bubble: Each person is tested three times 48 hours apart in the seven days prior to their charter flight to the bubble. They will not be quarantined upon arrival, including for teams / players / employees from the United States. Daily tests start on arrival. During the first five days within the bubble (exhibition games), individuals may only socialize with people from their own team’s travel group.
> Leave the bladder: Players who are allowed to leave the bladder for medical reasons or due to mitigating personal circumstances (birth of a child or death of a family member, etc.) may return. They must be quarantined upon return until four negative tests are available over a four-day period – or longer, depending on which location they visited outside the bladder and under what circumstances.
> Family visits: The immediate families of the players (spouse / partner and only children) can participate in the NHL bubble during the conference final and the Stanley Cup final in Edmonton. Families can only stay in the same hotel room as the player if an acceptable quarantine and daily bladder tests have been performed.
This means that players who qualify for the conference finals are at least five weeks away from their families.
> Help at home: While the players are away, the NHL teams offer families who stay at home by offering grocery delivery and care services.
> Positive tests: Anyone in the bladder who tests positive is immediately isolated.
A second “confirmation test” is carried out. If this test is positive, that person will be instructed to isolate until medically approved. Even if this confirmation test is negative, that person must remain isolated and retested within 24 hours – only until a second negative test is performed that person is allowed to leave isolation.
An “asymptomatic” confirmed positive case can recur after two consecutive negative tests over a period of 48 hours or after 10 days of isolated passage.
A “symptomatic” confirmed positive case can reconnect after the symptoms have subsided for at least 72 hours (no fever, no respiratory problems), provided the person has been self-isolating for at least 10 days.
> Confidentiality: No player who tests positive or develops symptoms will be identified to the media or publicly without the consent of the NHL or NHLPA.
> Player security: Every player who leaves the isolation “does not have to train for 14 days from the time of the first positive test.” After that, the players receive heart tests, including at least one EKG, an echocardiogram and highly sensitive troponin.
> Contact tracking: Any person who is in “close contact” with a positive test case in the 48 hours preceding the time of their positive test – defined by the NHL as being immediately removed and tested for 15 minutes or longer at 6 feet or less. This person is then closely monitored for 14 days.
> Cleaning procedure: Between each game period, every bench area must be disinfected, including flooring, bench surface, top of the Dasher board and water bottle area. Vertical partitions separate each player’s water bottle. All changing rooms, team rooms and event areas are also disinfected daily.
Contact Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @frank_seravalli
