Coyotes President of Hockey Operations & GM John Chayka acknowledged the NHL is in a "difficult situation" in regard to "getting players back in shape for a potential season restart," according to Richard Morin of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. Sources confirmed that the ice at the Coyotes' Gila River Arena "has been removed." And with no sheets of ice available to players, a "unique conundrum has been presented." Chayka said, "Guys haven't skated for a number of weeks now." He added that it "would likely take at least three weeks for players to reach game shape if the league were given the green light." Chayka: "For a lot of them, this is the longest they've gone without skating in years, maybe since they were very young" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 4/1).
UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY: Flyers LW and NHLPA player rep James van Riemsdyk said, "In a perfect world, you'd like to finish the regular season and play it out as it may and go from there. But if some of those timeframes become a little bit too shortened where we can't fit that in, it kind of creates a unique opportunity, in my opinion, to maybe try something a little bit unique with the playoff structure." He added of a potential change to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, "I know that’s been talked about in the last couple of years especially is try to maybe add some more teams to it. If we're in a situation like we are this year, it's basically a free chance to try something a little bit outside the box maybe and see what might work" (NBCSPORTSPHILADELPHIA.com, 3/31).
PATIENCE IS KEY: In Ottawa, Bruce Garrioch writes the NHL "shouldn't rush to judgment on the rest of its regular season." Instead, the "best bet" for NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and the league's owners is to "play the waiting game before deciding what the next step will be." The NHL and all other major sports are on pause, so the "reality is the league has time before deciding on its next step when -- or if -- it does resume this season" (OTTAWA SUN, 4/1).
