It’ll definitely be strange if and when the NHL resumes with teams playing in empty arenas.
There also will be a whole new set of challenges, including one overlooked hurdle pointed out Thursday by Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy.
Cassidy explained in an interview with WEEI’s “Dale & Keefe” that it’ll likely be difficult to communicate with his players during games without the other team hearing if there are, in fact, no fans in the stands.
“As a coach, one of the interesting things is that when the building’s full, there’s timeouts and there’s music playing and there’s just a lot of noise and announcements over the PA, and you really have to block a lot of that out if you’re trying to get a message across in timeouts,” Cassidy said, as transcribed by WEEI.com. “All of a sudden now, play stops and you can hear a pin drop in a rink. I think it’s going to be different for everybody. You can probably hear the other side’s conversation if they’re talking to their players, if the benches are close enough. It’s going to be weird. It really will be with no fans in there. So we’ll see. Guys adjust. Players just want to play at the end of the day. Once the puck drops, they’ll focus. But it will be a different atmosphere and it’ll take some getting used to.”
More Bruins: Matt Grzelcyk Believes Playing Without Fans Would Be ‘Weird’
Obviously, this is the least of the NHL’s concerns right now. There are way too many other logistics to figure out as the league considers its options for restarting play once headway is made in the fight against COVID-19.
It’s still an interesting aspect of the game to consider, though, and it’ll undoubtedly force coaches across the NHL — including Cassidy — to be creative in how they relay messages within a much quieter environment.
