1 Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips June 5-8, 2020 Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: NHL Says Phase 2 Voluntary
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Columbus Blue Jackets News Clips June 5-8, 2020 Columbus Blue Jackets PAGE 02: Columbus Dispatch: NHL says Phase 2 voluntary workouts will begin Monday PAGE 04: Associated Press: After best-of-five ’play-in’ round, NHL plans usual seven-game playoff series PAGE 06: The Athletic: Q&A: Blue Jackets’ Seth Jones on his ankle, his next contract, protests and more PAGE 11: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets hope they get in game shape quickly PAGE 13: Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets set to begin small-group workouts PAGE 14: Columbus Dispatch: NHL plan may leave players feeling isolated Cleveland Monsters/Prospects NHL/Websites PAGE 16: The Athletic: After 10 days of posting and protesting, athletes consider what comes next PAGE 21: The Athletic: Mirtle: Why the NHL’s summer playoff schedule may become hockey’s new normal PAGE 24: Sportsnet.ca: 31 Thoughts: NHL, NHLPA hard at work on CBA extension PAGE 30: Sportsnet.ca: How the NHL's playoff could be better, and is a return worth it? PAGE 33: Tech Xplore: Broadcasters face screen test in coronavirus age PAGE 35: The Athletic: Duhatschek Notebook: Inside HHOF’s 2020 selection plan and playoff peculiarities PAGE 41: The Athletic: LeBrun: What to expect from each of the 24 teams as they enter Phase 2 PAGE 45: The Athletic: Q&A: NHL’s Kim Davis says this is ‘a moment for us to really accelerate’ PAGE 50: Sportsnet.ca: Quick Shifts: NHL community taking critical steps in fighting racism 1 Columbus Dispatch / NHL says Phase 2 voluntary workouts will begin Monday By Brian Hedger – June 5, 2020 Issues remain before the NHL’s return to action is finalized, but the league took two more strides Thursday toward resuming its paused 2019-20 season. After first releasing additional details with its 24-team return format in the afternoon, the league announced later Thursday that “Phase 2” of its plan will begin Monday with team facilities re-opening for voluntary small-group workouts. The workouts, on-ice and off-ice, will be limited to no more than six players at a time and each team must meet extensive procedural requirements contained within a 20-page summary of “Phase 2” protocols released last month. “All necessary preparations for Phase 2, including those that require Player participation (education, diagnostic testing, scheduling for medicals, etc.), can begin immediately,” the league said in a press release. “The NHL and the NHLPA continue to negotiate over an agreement on the resumption of play.” Players who opt to participate in Phase 2 will be subjected to regular coronavirus testing, fever checks and have limited contact with a select group of team staff members that includes athletic trainers, equipment managers and strength-and-conditioning coaches. They will also have no contact with other players at the team facility other than those designated to be in their group. Each team must also designate at Facility Hygiene Officer to oversee the league’s protocols. Getting players back from their offseason homes could require extended time and self-quarantine measures upon re-entering the U.S. and Canada, which is why Phase 2 will precede full training camps. The goal is to allow players to get back on the ice of conditioning skates and skill work prior to the start of training camps, which is targeted for sometime in July. Training camps are expected to be split between two hub cities that have yet to be designated and will host games. Columbus is among the cities being considered. “Combining the Phase 2 and Phase 3 (training camps), there’s going to be plenty of time to get (players) ready, so I don’t have a lot of concern over that,” Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said last week on a teleconference. “That’s why the league’s done it the way it’s done it, so there will be adequate time for everybody’s preparation.” Officially starting Phase 2 is a big step for a league that’s been paused since Mar. 12 for the COVID-19 pandemic. It allows players to get back into their regular practice facilities and sharpen skills that have likely dulled in nearly three months off ice. Goalies may benefit most. They will not be allowed to work with the team’s goaltending coaches during Phase 2, just as skaters can’t work with team skill coaches, but goalies are allowed to hire independent goaltending coaches and will get more ice access than skaters. “Goaltending is obviously one of those positions that are a little more delicate than the others,” Kekalainen said. “They will need that preparation time, for sure.” 2 Earlier Thursday, the league announced further format details that were hammered out in talks between the NHL and its players association, including the decision to use best-of-5 series in only the qualifying round and best-of-7 series in all other rounds. The league also announced that seeding rather than brackets will determine matchups once the qualifying round is complete. Methods to determine “home” and “away” teams within each series were also revealed, even though the use of hub cities renders that more for presentation than any home-ice advantage. In the qualifying round through the conference finals, higher-seeded teams will get the majority of “home” games, while the team with a higher points percentage in the regular season will get more “home” games in the Stanley Cup Final. The Blue Jackets, seeded ninth in the Eastern Conference, will be the “road” team in Games 1, 2 and 5 (if necessary) against the eighth-seeded Toronto Maple Leafs. They will be the “home” team in Games 3 and 4 (if necessary). 3 Associated Press / After best-of-five ’play-in’ round, NHL plans usual seven- game playoff series By Stephen Whyno – June 5, 2020 The NHL announced Thursday that after the initial best-of-five play-in round every playoff series will be a best-of-seven format and teams will be reseeded throughout if the league is able to return with its 24- team plan later this summer. The announcement came at nearly the same time the Pittsburgh Penguins revealed one of their players had tested positive for the coronavirus. The team said the unidentified player was not in Pittsburgh, was isolated after experiencing symptoms and has recovered. So far, nine NHL players are known to have tested positive: five from Ottawa, three from Colorado and one from Pittsburgh. The league is expected to test players daily if games resume. The NHL is still assessing health and safety protocols for what it has said could be 24 teams playing each other in two hub cities. "We still have a lot of things to figure out, namely the safety of the players," Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler said this week. "We've got to make sure that our safety is at the top of that list. Because we're a few months into this pandemic, we don't know what the long term effects are going to be. A lot of questions to be answered." The NHL has not announced the start of voluntary workouts or a firm timeline for training camps and the resumption of games. But the final details of the format answered one question: Players preferred re-seeding throughout a 24-team playoff as a means of fairness, though the league likes the brackets that have been in place since 2014. "We prefer as a general matter brackets for a whole host of reasons," commissioner Gary Bettman said last week. "We've told the players who have been debating it internally if they have a preference, we're happy to abide by it." The top four teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences will play separate round-robin tournaments to determine seeding. Re-seeding each round puts more value on the seeding tournaments between Boston, Tampa Bay, Washington and Philadelphia in the East and St. Louis, Colorado, Vegas and Dallas in the West. "Those games are going to be competitive," Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said. Toronto captain John Tavares, a member of the NHL/NHLPA Return to Play committee, said he preferred the traditional seven-game series once the playoffs were down to the more traditional 16 teams. A majority of players agreed. "Everybody is used to a best of seven," Pittsburgh player representative Kris Letang said. "You know how it's structured. You know how it feels if you lose the first two or you win the first two. You kind of know all the scenarios that can go through a best of seven." Having each series be best of seven will add several days to the schedule to award the Stanley Cup as late as October. But players felt it worth it to maintain the integrity of the playoffs. 4 "Any team that is going to win five rounds, four rounds of best of seven ... I think it will be a very worthy Stanley Cup champion and they'll be as worthy as any team or players that won it before them," Tavares said. 5 The Athletic / Q&A: Blue Jackets’ Seth Jones on his ankle, his next contract, protests and more By Aaron Portzline – June 5, 2020 COLUMBUS, Ohio — The 2019-20 Blue Jackets survived the well-publicized departures of Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky and Matt Duchene. They moved on well without firebrand forward Brandon Dubinsky in the lineup. Even when Cam Atkinson, Joonas Korpisalo, Ryan Murray and Zach Werenski went down with injuries, they kept chugging along. But Seth Jones — a heralded player, to be sure — has never been more appreciated in Columbus than in the weeks after he fractured his ankle in mid-February.