Bruins' Bruce Cassidy: We were told 'don't plan on playing until the end of the summer'
The NHL season was abruptly paused in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it doesn't sound like we'll be getting any hockey anytime soon.
Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher and Rich on Wednesday morning to discuss his thoughts on the NHL season resuming, and he admitted that they were told it's going to be a pretty long wait.
The Bruins led the league with 100 points and were the only team to reach that mark before the season was put on pause.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman noted canceling the season is the last thing he wants to do, so the league has been discussing various ways in which players can return to the ice. Of the many ideas that have been put on the table, the NHL has made progress on a 24-team playoff format with the potential for a few regular-season games to be played before the postseason kicks off.
However, before that can happen, players have admitted they'll need about a month of training camp to get back in shape. That's actually a very reasonable request, especially considering teams go through a long training camp and preseason before the start of the regular season in October.
If the league decides to resume with the playoffs and forego the remainder of the regular season, Cassidy's Bruins would have home-ice advantage for the second year in a row throughout the entire postseason.
Boston has not won a Stanley Cup since 2011, but they have made appearances in the Final in 2013 and 2019, losing to both the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues, respectively. If things can go back to normal, they'll be out for blood during the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.
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