Given the times we live in, Friday’s news wasn’t all that surprising to Matt Grzelcyk and many other NHLers.
But the league’s announcement that the Tampa Bay Lightning’s training facility would need to be shut down due to a COVID-19 outbreak — coupled with news that 11 of the over 200 players tested for Phase 2 yielded a positive result — highlights the massive challenges facing both the NHL and NHLPA when it comes to undertaking a restart in the midst of a pandemic.
For Grzelcyk, who has returned to the ice at Warrior Ice Arena for voluntary workouts since Phase 2 was implemented, getting back on the sheet provides the first real sense of normalcy since the 2019-20 campaign was paused back in early March.
But even during that hour or so of on-ice work, the Charlestown native admitted that tuning the circumstances and challenges looming away from the rink is a goal not easily carried out in 2020.
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While Grzelcyk and his teammates are still ramping up in their efforts of orchestrating another deep Cup run in the coming months, the news of additional positive tests — including a Bruins player — does undercut the blind enthusiasm that should come with the return of playoff hockey.
"First and foremost, you want to make sure that whoever it was that tested positive is healthy and is taking all the necessary steps to ensure everything is going to go smoothly," Grzelcyk said Tuesday on a Zoom call. "It’s definitely eye-opening ... But at the same time, going into it, you certainly expect that to pop up. You see more and more cases popping up across the league, and that’s to be expected as well. But at the same time, it’s still a little nerve-wracking. You’re just not sure what this all means going forward. You want to make sure that those players and the people they're around are staying healthy and staying isolated ... so that we can slow the passing of this all."
Despite Friday's news — and the likely announcement of additional positive tests in the coming weeks — the NHL is continuing forward with its ambitious "Return To Play" plan, with Phase 3 (full training camps) set to become implemented on July 10.
Grzelcyk, who noted that the stringent testing protocols in place are "tedious," but "necessary," added that the NHL holding firm on its plan to usher in Phase 3 in a little over two weeks does provide some clarity for the league's players — even amid the rising concerns with each new positive test.
Still, as excited as Grzelcyk is to get back into the swing of things, the B's defenseman is keeping things in perspective — given both the dire situations many outside hockey are facing these days, as well as the very tangible scenario in which an extended outbreak or severe COVID-19-related complications could shutter the 2019-29 NHL season for good.
"I try to realize the seriousness of the matter," Grzelcyk said. "I think we were all kind of in the dark the first couple days, or first few weeks, of what was going on. You watch the news and you see how serious this whole situation is. You just want to make you’re helping to be a part of the solution and making sure you follow all the guidelines the CDC has put in place.
"Hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to get back soon. As we’re going to the rink and things like that, we realize there’s a little bit more freedom than maybe at first, but just to still have that in mind that people are losing their lives from this situation. You want to make sure you’re doing more good than harm — wearing a mask at all times, washing your hands, following those precautions so you don’t spread it on to other people. I think it’s a very serious matter. As bad as we do want to play, we realize that there are more important things in life. You have to make sure that other things fall into place first."
NHL hub cities narrowed down:
And then there were six.
While we're not expected to learn the NHL's ruling on its two neutral-site hub cities until later this week (at the earliest), the league has started trimming down the number of potential venues for when playoff hockey is given the green light to return.
According to Pierre LeBrun, the NHL officially cut another four cities from its list of considered locations over the past two days, leaving the following six spots as potential options for the league's restart.
- Chicago
- Edmonton
- Las Vegas
- Los Angeles
- Toronto
- Vancouver