The Blackhawks remain in a complete coronavirus shutdown, but the NHL announced plans Monday that will soon begin to move them out of it.
A lengthy memorandum released by the league outlines rules for the second phase of the its “Return to Sport Protocol,” which is now scheduled to begin in early June.
The most prominent changes will be reopening team practice facilities and permitting players to hold small-group workouts together in anticipation of an eventual season resumption.
Although those workouts won’t be allowed to exceed six participants and cannot have any coaches or trainers present, they’ll represent the first sign of hockey life since the season was paused indefinitely March 12.
That means coach Jeremy Colliton won’t be able to call the team together for practice — but a leader like Jonathan Toews or Duncan Keith could, and likely will, start organizing sessions as players slowly migrate back to Chicago.
The Monday memo states that teams cannot yet require their players to return from their homes and that 14-day quarantine periods will be required for virtually all returning players. Toews said on a March 31 Zoom call that most of his Hawks teammates had left the city, although he was riding out the pandemic at his Chicago home.
The league also stated players will be tested for coronavirus twice a week and checked for symptoms and temperature every day during this phase.
This weekend has been easily the most eventful stretch yet of the NHL’s shutdown, between Monday’s phase progression announcement and the NHL Players Association’s agreement Saturday to a 24-team playoff format this year.
That format would include the Hawks — despite their mediocre 32-30-8 record and low chance of qualifying for the 16-team format when the season stopped — and likely pit them in a best-of-five first-round series against the Oilers, a team they beat twice in three tries this season.
But an overwhelming amount of logistical challenges remain unattended, such as where the playoffs will take place and how players, coaches and staff will be kept safe once they begin.
A Hawks spokesperson, reached Monday, deferred comment on the second phase progression to the league’s announcement.
