The NHL announced its plan Monday morning to reopen team facilities for small group practices in early June, the latest step towards resuming the suspended season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The league released a 22-page memo Monday detailing the plan that would limit practice sessions to six players on the ice at a time, without any coaches or hockey operations personnel present. For the Stars, that would mean reopening their practice facility, the Comerica Center, in Frisco to players. The league announced early June as the target period, but did not specify an actual date.
The reopening of team facilities is labeled Phase 2, after the self-quarantine period was Phase 1. Training camp will be Phase 3, and return to play will be Phase 4. The NHLPA recently approved a 24-team playoff format in which Dallas would receive a bye into the Round of 16. The location, timing and safety protocols of the postseason have not been decided.
Players will be allowed to skate, participate in weight training, circuit-based activities, cardio and rehabilitation from injuries. They will be required to socially distance both on the ice and in other areas (like the dressing room), except for medical encounters, and must wear masks unless they are exercising.
The six-player groups will remain the same throughout Phase 2, and each group is permitted to have one athletic trainer, one strength and conditioning coach, one equipment manager, two dressing room attendants, a club physician and an independent goalie coach. Those people will only be allowed to work with one group, meaning the Stars will likely have to use personnel from AHL affiliate Texas to fill those roles.
Each group will be designated a shift that will not overlap with another group and allow for cleaning and disinfecting between sessions.
Here is some other notable information from the NHL's memo:
_ If excess testing is available in each particular city, players will be tested for COVID-19 via a nasal swab two days before entering the facility, with results available in one day. If results are not available in one day, the player will not be allowed in the facility until he tests negative. The league recommended testing players at least twice a week throughout Phase 2.
Should excess testing not be available in certain cities, players and team personnel must self-quarantine for two weeks before entering the facility.
_ Two hours before arriving at the facility, players will be required to check their symptoms at home and report them to their team, which is responsible for supplying oral thermometers to players. Teams will also check temperatures and symptoms at the entrance of the facility.
_ Any player who tests positive for COVID-19 will be deemed "unfit to play" and cannot train, practice or play. A team's medical staff _ along with a player's doctor, if he chooses _ will direct the medical care of anyone that tests positive. Contact tracing will be conducted after a positive test.
_ Coaches and hockey operations personnel are not allowed to watch the players-only skates until either the league announces a date for the start of training camp, or until two weeks of Phase 2 have passed. No fitness testing is allowed during Phase 2.
The memo does say that "unintentional or incidental observations of Player non-contact skates, because of physical location in the building or otherwise, are not prohibited." For instance, Stars general manager Jim Nill's office overlooks the Stars' practice rink in Frisco.
_ Players who use commercial transportation to return to club cities will require a 14-day quarantine before they can use the team's facility. This would likely apply to the Stars' European contingent (including Miro Heiskanen, John Klingberg, Esa Lindell, Denis Gurianov and Anton Khudobin), since those players may not be able to charter a plane across the Atlantic Ocean.
The memo stated that Phase 2 practice sessions were voluntary and teams could not force players to return for them.
_ For goaltenders, they are allowed to bring an independent goalie coach to the facility to work with them one week after the goalie first uses the facility.
_ Media, agents, massage therapists, chiropractors, player performance personnel, player's family members or any other people will not be allowed into the facility during Phase 2.
_ Players who use the team facility to skate may not skate at a different public rink, and cannot organize other training sessions outside of those.
_ Players who live in a city whose team they do not play for are allowed to use team facilities to train. In Dallas, that would apply to players like Tampa Bay's Blake Coleman and Vancouver's Jordie Benn and Loui Eriksson.
_ Teams will pay for $1,500 of travel costs for NHL players to return to their club city, and all travel expenses for AHL players. Players who do not live in their club city (trade deadline acquisitions or AHL players) will be put in a hotel and provided rental cars during Phases 2 and 3.
This would likely apply to the Stars' taxi squad of AHL players (players like Jake Oettinger, Jason Robertson, Joel L'Esperance and Joel Hanley) that would be available to play in case of injuries in the NHL.
