Back to the Colorado Avalanche Newsfeed

If NHL season resumes, should players have the option of not playing? “This is serious stuff,” Brian Engblom says

The NHL is working hard to iron out safety protocols to resume its season and award the Stanley Cup sometime this summer.

A 24-team playoff at two or four hub cities without fans seems to be the most popular idea — one that may push the start of the 2020-21 season into next year.

But former NBC and Avalanche analyst Brian Engblom sees a crack in any plan to resume the 2019-20 season before the U.S. and Canada have a better handle on the coronavirus pandemic.

A little more than 30% of all NHL players are from Europe, where COVID-19 case numbers are relatively small in countries like Finland and Sweden.