This morning the NHL has agreed on resuming play with the start of Phase 3 on July 10th, meaning that we’re that much closer to hockey’s return.
With the 2019-20 season “deemed complete” the NHL has been on hold since March and now we’re understanding that Phase 3 of the NHL’s return to play format has been agreed on. Here’s how it will go down.
The 12 teams in the Western Conference, including the Nashville Predators, will be assigned to one city. Training camps can officially begin at that time.
Phase Two has already begun, but that’s completely voluntary for players and has heavy restrictions on how many players can be on the ice at once.
It should be interesting for the playoff teams located in Canada, but have to travel to a US city to host a training camp.
The details
Chris Johnston of Sportsnet had the report that gave us an official date to look at. Everything has been speculation up to now.
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If everything gets taken care of and camps open on July 10, that would place the likely resumption of the NHL season at the beginning of August.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 11, 2020
Johnston also tweeted later on about some of the teams that are outside of the US and how they might have to host a training camp outside of the regular facility they are used too.
With NHL training camps on track for July 10, clarity is needed on the 14-day quarantine for those returning to Canada. It's possible quarantine is extended to include the facility where players skate but, if not, we'll likely see some Canadian teams hold camp in the U.S.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 11, 2020
As the exciting news about moving forward comes out, let’s talk about a few players to look for in the Nashville Predators training camps, including players that might have a really good start coming out of the gate.
When we talk about scoring we talk about Filip Forsburg, Kyle Turris, Matt Duchene, and Mikael Granlund.
These are naturally the players to look out for in training camp to come out and make an early impact.
The same goes for helping on the defensive side with Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, Mattias Ekholm, and the young Dante Fabbro.
The Predators defense has largely been under scrutiny aside from Josi and Ellis this season, and rightfully so.
On the topic of Phase Three ending and actual games starting, an early August start seems the most likely. Maybe even the first day of August.
Hub cities still need to be announced, and we’re still waiting to see if any Predators players elect for voluntary workouts at the training facilities before Phase Three begins.
The Predators and Coyotes will meet in the qualifying round in a best-of-five series. The two teams split the two games against each other in the regular season.