Monday marked the beginning of Phase 2 in the NHL’s reopening plan, but not all teams, including the Avalanche, chose to hold voluntary skates or off-ice workouts at practice facilities.
Players have more than a month to prepare for Phase 3, which is official training camps that won’t begin until July 10 at the earliest. Phase 4 is the return to play in a 24-team Stanley Cup playoff in late July or early August.
An Avalanche spokesman said the team won’t have organized voluntary workouts until Wednesday or Thursday. Some Avs have been skating in Lakewood and other Denver-area rinks.
The U.S.-Canada border is closed to nonessential travel until June 21. Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog has been living in Toronto during the coronavirus pandemic and it’s questionable if will be able to return to Denver before then.
The defending Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues, are also choosing to hold off on training at club facilities for the time being.
The Blues and Avalanche are currently the top-two seeds in what has been trimmed to a 12-team Western Conference, with Colorado having a chance to leapfrog St. Louis for the top spot. Those teams, as well as No. 3 Vegas and No. 4 Dallas, will play a round-robin series for seeding purposes while the West’s eight lowest seeds play five-game qualifying series.
The conference will be reseeded for the first round, as well as the conference semifinals and finals, and each of those rounds will be the traditional best-of-seven.
While the plan has been approved by the NHL and its player’s union, it’s still all dependent on safety concerns during the pandemic.
These pictures taken at Pepsi Center today. Ice ready for #Avs in small groups but I’m told nobody has skated yet. And no ice has been requested at team practice facility. Today is first day of voluntary workouts at NHL facilities. Training camp won’t begin until July 10 or later pic.twitter.com/xI4lJSmXpR
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) June 8, 2020
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As NHL training facilities reopen Monday, Avalanche among teams choosing to wait - The Denver Post
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