Deputy commissioner Bill Daly: NHL wants Canadian hub city, but there are hurdles to jump through

While the NHL announced its plan to resume play this week, no decision has been made on which cities will host the 24 clubs returning to action in the coming months. Pittsburgh, Chicago and Los Angeles are among U.S. cities that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is considering, while Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver are being considered among Canadian cities.

Unfortunately for the NHL, a hub city in Canada is going to require some hoops being jumped through, but NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told TSN's James Duthie that he wants to make sure the Canadian clubs are represented well when teams finally return to the ice.

"We would certainly like to have a (hub) city in Canada," Daly told Duthie on Tuesday night. "As with everything we try to do and with our events, we try to move them around (and) try to make sure our Canadian clubs are well-represented, and this would be another example of that."

The Canadian government's 14-day isolation order for all people entering the country definitely is going to cause some problems for a hub city in the country. While it's going to be difficult, Canada hasn't been ruled out just yet, and Daly noted that the league is looking at all options going forward.

However, things in Canada aren't necessarily the best right now. While Alberta reported just 22 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Tuesday, Ontario reported its first day with under 400 new cases in almost a week.

So, although the league is pushing for a Canadian hub city, it doesn't seem like it's going to happen as of Wednesday ... but, you never know.