PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 15: An overall view of the arena is shown prior to the start of this afternoon's game featuring the Philadelphia Flyers against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Wells Fargo Center on April 15, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
Photo Credit: Getty Images
1,267…1,267 confirmed cases (As of 5am this morning) of the Coronavirus in the United States. This virus is spreading like a wildfire, and action had to be taken on sports throughout the United States. Last night, the NBA suspended their season with the news of a player from the Utah Jazz Rudy Gobert testing positive for the Coronavirus, and now another Utah Jazz player Donovan Mitchell has tested positive for the virus, as well.
The NHL, on the other hand, released a statement late last night stating that the league would not suspend the season in the wake of the NBA suspending their season. However, all of that can be put to rest now, as Gary Bettman has suspended league operations with the hopes of resuming the season in the future.
Bettman did not fold under political pressure, this is about people’s health and safety, and quite frankly this decision was inevitable. Is it ashame? Yes, absolutely, no one wanted the season to be suspended, but what does this mean?
The NHL season plans to reconvene in the coming future. This means whomever is in a playoff spot now could be in the playoffs. The Link Below is the up to date current NHL Standings:
https://www.espn.com/nhl/standings
Your Philadelphia Flyers sit in second place with 89 points, which is good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Their first-round playoff matchup would be against the Pittsburgh Penguins (86 Points), as the Penguins currently sit in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. What a first-round matchup this will be, and the Flyers have home ice advantage in this series.
The good news out of all this, and yes this is good news. Players like Nolan Patrick, JVR, Philippe Myers, and Nate Thompson can fully heal, and could come back and play when the season resumes:
Today is a sad day, but this was a way to limit the Coronavirus from spreading and infecting more people. this was not an easy decision for Bettman to make, but this was the right decision in the end. At the end of the day, the value of a human life is far more important, than a sporting event.
