NHL Suspends Season To Counteract Spread Of Coronavirus

The NHL has suspended the season due to the spread of the coronavirus as of Thursday, March 12, according to commissioner Gary Bettman. They join the NBA, MLB, NCAA, MLS and XFL who have also deferred operations temporarily or canceled the remainder of their respective seasons.

“The NHL has been attempting to follow the mandates of health experts and local authorities, while preparing for any possible developments without taking premature or unnecessary measures,” Bettman said in a statement. “However, following last night’s news that an NBA player has tested positive for coronavirus — and given that our leagues share so many facilities and locker rooms and it now seems likely that some member of the NHL community would test positive at some point — it is no longer appropriate to try to continue to play games at this time.”

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Bettman described the process leading to his decision during an appearance on CNBC Thursday night.

“For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been monitoring what’s been going on,” Bettman told CNBC. “We went from dealing with things on a day-to-day basis to an hour-by-hour basis, and then it was in minutes. We were constantly evolving our strategy about our teams playing or not playing. But last night, when the NBA had a positive test, and they had to cancel a game at that moment, it was clear to me — and through all of our calculus, we knew — that once a player tested positive it would be a game-changer. I decided to get ahead of it.”

He later added, “In all likelihood, we weren’t going to get through the rest of the season without a player testing positive. Particularly because the Utah Jazz had used locker rooms within 24 hours of our teams using the same locker rooms in buildings that we share with the NBA. I just decided that instead of waiting for it to happen, to just get ahead of it.”

Bettman also stated there’s been no confirmed cases among players thus far and no one is currently being monitored for symptoms related to the virus.

The league canceled morning skates, practices and team meetings on Thursday morning and had previously banned media personnel from entering locker rooms. There are 189 games and 3.5 weeks left in the regular seaason, but it remains unclear when play will resume and how far playoffs will be pushed back. When asked about the playoffs potentially being postponed until July, the first month of the league’s offseason, Bettman responded, “That’s a question that I can’t answer right now. We’re looking at all contingencies. I hope that at some point we get back to a sense of normalcy. And that’s not just my hope for the NHL.”