The NHL plans to punish unvaccinated players more harshly if they test positive for the coronavirus as part of new protocols for the upcoming season.
Teams will be able to suspend unvaccinated players without pay if they cannot participate in hockey activities as part of the protocols, according to a person with knowledge of the new rules. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday because the protocols had not been announced.
Fully vaccinated players will have any COVID-19 positives treated as hockey injuries and still be paid. Coaches and other team staff who closely interact with players are required to be fully vaccinated.
Unvaccinated players also will have their movements restricted when on the road. There will still be regular coronavirus testing for vaccinated players.
League officials estimated that between 90 and 95% of players are fully vaccinated or will be before training camps begin later this month. The season begins Oct. 12.
Teams were informed this week of the rules for 2021-22, which were first reported by Sportsnet in Canada. It’s not clear yet how crossing the U.S.-Canada border will affect the season. The NHL realigned last season to take the border out of the equation until late in the playoffs. The seven Canada-based teams only faced off against each other, and the 24 in the U.S. played a division-only 56-game schedule.
When the Canadiens faced Vegas and Tampa Bay in the final two rounds, players and staff traveling back and forth were put in a quarantined bubble when in Montreal, as part of an agreement with the Canadian federal government. The NHL held the entire 2020 playoffs in bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton, Alberta, because of low virus case rates in those cities at the time.
OLYMPICS: The NHL is set to return to the Olympics in Beijing this winter after reaching an agreement with international officials, though the league and players have the opportunity to withdraw if pandemic circumstances warrant. The NHL, its players’ union, the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation struck a deal Friday that will put the best players in the world back on sports’ biggest stage in February after they skipped the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
“It was not easy, but we did it,” IIHF president Rene Fasel told The Associated Press by phone. “I’m really, really happy. When you see the last was 2014, and they would wait until 2026, so you have 12 years in between – that means we have a generation of hockey players that would not be able to play in the Olympics.”
Even after the NHL and players agreed to Olympic participation as part of a long-term extension of the collective bargaining agreement last summer, the coronavirus pandemic and related costs threatened to shelve that possibility. Instead, the sides figured it out, allowing for the league or players to withdraw if virus circumstances change for the worse or there’s an outbreak during the season.
As long as that does not happen, NHL players will compete in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament for the sixth time in seven chances dating to 1998.
In anticipation of a deal being reached, the NHL already scheduled a three-week break to take into account the Olympic tournament opening on Feb. 9. The league will still hold its All-Star weekend in Las Vegas before players fly to China on Feb. 6.
RED WINGS: Detroit Red signed Filip Hronek to a three-year, $13.2 million.
The Czech defenseman will count $4.4 million against the salary cap through the 2023-24 season.
Hronek has 16 goals and 64 assists for 80 points through his first 167 regular-season NHL games. The 23-year-old put up 26 points last season with Detroit.
SENATORS: Ottawa forward Drake Batherson agreed to a six-year, $29.85 million contract.
The 23-year-old Batherson had 17 goals and 17 assists in 56 games last season. He has 23 goals and 30 assists in 99 career games with Ottawa over three seasons.
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