It's good to finally be writing about NHL games that are on the horizon, but something still feels empty.
It's good to have plans for an NHL tournament, even if it is watered down and includes a Montreal team that had nine more losses than wins.
It's good that the Flyers, who were the NHL's hottest team the last time we saw them, will have a chance to win their first Stanley Cup since 1975, but it's sad fans won't be allowed to sit in the Wells Fargo Center and make it percolate like in the unforgettable 2010 playoff run.
Unlike me, most fans don't have mixed emotions about hockey's returning. They just want it back. Yesterday.
In a Twitter poll I started Wednesday morning, 81% of the first 1,000 responders said they were thrilled about the NHL's return-to-play plans, which the league outlined Tuesday. Just 19% said the season should have been canceled.
Part of me feels excited about the NHL's planned return, about the chance to see if the Flyers can continue their growth under coach Alain Vigneault and his terrific staff.
Part of me feels that the resumption of the season is forced, that the season should have been bagged and that too much can go wrong (read: the coronavirus spreads through a team or two) once the games return.
But here we are. Getting ready to watch games, place bets, and make the TV ratings soar.
"We hope this is a step back toward normalcy," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday.
A short time later, he estimated that 30,000 coronavirus tests will be performed on players and staff members.
So much for normalcy.
Plans are coming together. Games will return in late July or early August, without fans in attendance, and the made-for-TV playoffs could drag into October, causing the next season to possibly start in _ wait for it _ January.
Normalcy?
