Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto can be hub cities in NHL Return to Play Plan

Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto each will be eligible to be a hub city as part of the NHL’s Return to Play Plan, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday.

The NHL had said a city in Canada would not be selected if players were required to complete the mandatory 14-day self-isolating currently in effect for people entering the country. Trudeau said the border with the US will remain closed to nonessential travel through until at least July 21.

Canada Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Friday that the country had approved the NHL proposal of a cohort quarantine approach for players entering Canada, according to The Canadian Press.

The cohort quarantine, keeping players away from the the general public, would allow the NHL to bypass the 14-day quarantine.

Freeland said that the cohort quarantine would involve regular screening and it would be crucial that the directives of medical officers are followed closely.

The NHL, which postponed its season March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic, announced 10 locations are in the running to be two hub cities, including one for the 12 Western Conference teams and one for the 12 participating Eastern Conference teams.

Under the NHL’s 24-team Return to Play Plan, the Stanley Cup Qualifiers will have the top 4 teams in each conference, based on regular-season point percentage and play a round-robin to determine seeding. The other 8 teams in each conference will be paired in 4 best-of-5 series, with the winners playing the 4 round-robin teams in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In addition to Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver, the NHL is also considering seven US locations, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Columbus, Pittsburgh, and inneapolis/St. Paul.

Phase 3 of the Return to Play proposal, which is the beginning of the training camp, can start on July 10 with medical and safety conditions allow and the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association reaching an agreement on resuming play. The NHL has not announced when the qualifiers will start.