The NHL and NHLPA have established a framework for Phase 2 of a return plan that includes teams reopening their practice facilities and beginning small group workouts in early June.
The protocols issued yesterday in a 22-page memo include a maximum of six players taking part in on-ice workouts at one time with no coaches or team personnel on the ice. Players will not be required to wear face masks while exercising or on the ice, but must do so when entering and leaving the facility and when physical distancing cannot be maintained. Player participation in Phase 2 is voluntary, and teams are not permitted to require players to return to their club’s home city so they can complete a quarantine requirement in time to participate in Phase 2.
Meanwhile, the league has not yet worked out a procedure for getting international players back to their teams. Seventeen percent of the NHL’s players live away from North America.
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