NHL players, like Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo, appear to be optimistic the current season will resume at some point.
And at least one executive shares that mindset.
Of course, the NHL season is on pause amid the COVID-19 outbreak, and to date there are no concrete plans to ramp back up. The idea of playing at isolated, neutral sites like Grand Forks, N.D., or Manchester, N.H., has been kicked around, but logistical barriers — like the need for another training camp — obviously add a level of difficulty to starting again.
Lou Lamoriello, who currently is the New York Islanders president of hockey operations, wholeheartedly believes the 2019-20 season will be played out.
“I firmly believe we will be back,” Lamoriello said in an interview with “The Athletic’s” Pierre LeBrun. “I like what I’m seeing today as far as in our area certainly, that things have leveled off with reference to the number of people going into the hospital. Hopefully things are starting and beginning to get under control. I’m not naive, I know there’s a lot of work ahead of us with reference to making sure things can or cannot be done. But we’ve got a lot of brilliant people in the National Hockey League, we’ve got a lot of brilliant people in the Players’ Association, who have the best interest of the players and the game side by side.”
The league has been steadfast in its desire to explore every possible avenue to resume the current campaign and award the Stanley Cup — to the point where it’s reportedly willing to delay next season.
Because of that, it’s understandable why Lamoriello is on the optimistic side of things.
