In the context of everything going on in the world, sports really don’t matter right now.
But while fully acknowledging that, many can’t help but wonder whether the NHL season will resume, as it, of course, currently is paused amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The league’s remarks about the pause seem to make clear its desire is for the campaign to resume at some point and for the Stanley Cup to eventually be awarded.
However, the spread of the coronavirus is unpredictable, and if the league has to wait well into the summer to begin again, it obviously would impact the 2020-21 season.
Tuukka Rask, for one, is not optimistic that the season will resume.
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The Boston Bruins netminder explained why he doesn’t think so Tuesday in an interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”
“I can’t say what (the NHL) should do or shouldn’t do, but if they cancelled the Olympics, I just can’t see any way of playing in July and August,” Rask said. “But it’s not up to me, and I just play whenever they tell us to show up, and that’s just the reality of it. Obviously, the league is losing and the players are losing so much money when we’re not playing if we cancel the season it’s going to leave a mark for the next upcoming years. So I’m sure they’re going to do everything they can to squeeze the games in. If it’s only the playoffs then that’s what it is and go from there. But personal opinion is that it’s going to be super tough to start playing hockey in July, August, the ice conditions might be pretty bad and whatnot, so we’ll see.”
From a purely hockey perspective, the Bruins have the most to lose here. After being just 60 minutes away from the Cup in 2019, they were the top team in the league when the season paused. But again, the importance of hockey really pales in comparison to controlling the coronavirus.
