As MLB faces COVID-19 reckoning, Florida Panthers feel safe inside ‘strict’ NHL bubble
Monday was a reckoning for MLB — and sports, at large — as professional leagues try to play their seasons amid the onging COVID-19 pandemic. The Miami Marlins face a legitimate outbreak of the coronavirus, with 11 players and two coaches testing positive since Thursday, leading to the first COVID-related postponements of games just five days into the season.
Not even four hours after the Marlins postponed their Monday home opener against the Baltimore Orioles, the NHL announced the results of its latest round of testing. More than 4,200 tests were administered to more than 800 players in the past week. Not a single one came back positive as 24 teams, including the Florida Panthers, congregated in two Canadian hub cities Sunday to begin the expanded postseason.
It provided a stark contrast for two leagues trying to salvage their seasons in vastly different manners. In MLB, teams will travel across the country for more than two months, trusted to stay safe from the virus by themselves for a 60-game season. In the NHL and NBA, the next few months will be spent inside bubbles, isolated from the outside, infected world while they try play modified postseasons.
“It’s an unfortunate thing to hear about the Marlins, in that regard, and I wish them nothing but the best,” coach Joel Quenneville said, “but, so far, it’s been an amazing start knowing that things are pretty well organized in a lot of different ways.”
On Sunday, the Panthers and 11 other Eastern Conference teams all arrived in Toronto to enter one of the league’s secure zones — more commonly referred to as bubbles — ahead of a qualifying round series against the New York Islanders, which begins Saturday at Scotiabank Arena. Florida and the seven other teams playing in the qualifying round for the Stanley Cup playoffs all checked in at the Fairmont Royal York, just a block from the arena.
Players are all in their own rooms and restricted from mingling with other teams until Saturday, save for a Wednesday scrimmage against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Schedules are thoughtfully mapped out so teams aren’t crossing paths with one another in close confines and mask-wearing is strictly enforced. Every morning, players will have their temperatures taken and symptoms checked, and they’ll receive a COVID test.
“The NHL has done an awesome job with kind of keeping our closeness to people at a minimum,” Noel Acciari said. “There’s certain times you have to be in certain areas, certain restaurants and I think they’ve done a really good job with that so far. It’s Day 1, but it’s pretty strict.”
Said Quenneville: “I’ve never seen a place where you’ve got to go through security to leave the hotel.”
The same thing is happening in Edmonton, where 12 Western Conference teams have gathered to play out the other half of the expanded postseason. If the Panthers reach the Eastern Conference finals, they will head over to Alberta, too, to potentially play the final two rounds in the other hub city.
All the while, contact with the outside world will be strictly regulated. Everyone in the bubbles — not just players and coaches — are tested daily. Families can’t join players and staff until the final two rounds.
On Sunday, Acciari had an emotional departure from his South Florida home. The center posed for an Instagram picture with Greyson Acciari, pretending his 19-day-old son was trying to stuff his way into his father’s bag.
Acciari agonized about whether he would join the Panthers in the bubble and leave his family behind for an undetermined amount of time. It was the sort of difficult decision the NHL had to force players to make to be sure the bubble would work as intended.
“It was emotional. It was tough to leave. He’s only two weeks old, and in those two weeks I saw him grow each day,” Acciari said. “It’s definitely tough, but it’s a good thing we have FaceTime and can send pictures, and I can see him in that way, talk to him through that, but it was definitely a little emotional and I definitely miss him.”
Teams have only been in the bubble about 24 hours, but the early impressions have raised optimism across the league. The NBA has been at it nearly three weeks and has not had a positive test yet, and the NHL did a similarly thorough job making sure sick players wouldn’t poke a whole in the bubble right away.
It’s strict, but, in this case, strict is exactly what everyone wants to feel safe.
“Obviously like Noel said, it’s strict, but I think the NHL did a really good job. It’s well organized,” All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau said. “Teams are separated, so you don’t see a lot of the other teams, and I think it’s just to follow the protocol. Obviously, we wear masks. There’s a lot of security and stuff like that. They take your temperature every morning, so it’s well organized, and I think if we follow this protocol we’re going to be good to go and play.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 5:04 PM.
