The New Jersey Devils and the rest of the NHL had hope that they could salvage the remainder of the season when they returned from pausing due to the Corona Virus. The new CDC recommendations will make that basically impossible.
We’ve only been a few days without NHL hockey and without New Jersey Devils hockey, but it’s felt like forever. There’s a global pandemic going on that’s put sports as we know it on hold. Then, on Sunday, the news got worse. Any hope that there’s at all a possibility the Devils and the NHL could return at the beginning of April were ended when the CDC sent out a recommendation to ban all events with more than 50 people through the next eight weeks.
There is no way the NHL is going to play games for teams out of the playoffs if they are waiting eight weeks. Also, if they can’t start until mid-May, then the idea of letting all teams make the postseason also doesn’t work. There just isn’t enough time.
With the NBA reportedly looking at a mid-June arrival, and with no fans at that, we’d assume the NHL is looking at those same provisions.
CDC recommendation of no events of 50-plus people for next two months comes as a number of NBA owners and executives increasingly believe a best case scenario is a mid-to-late June return to play -- with no fans. League's scouting for possible arena dates all the way thru August.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 15, 2020
This means that without officially being over, we should go forth as if the Devils season has come to a close. Jack Hughes rookie season will come to an end. Mackenzie Blackwood’s outside chance to compete for the Calder Trophy will end here as well. P.K. Subban‘s attempt to salvage a rough start in the Garden State ends early.
There are also some very weird things to think about right now. We may have seen the last game Travis Zajac ever plays in a New Jersey Devils uniform. The last time we checked, he asked the Devils to keep him for the rest of the season just to readdress his time in New Jersey in the offseason.
Was this the last time we’ve seen Cory Schneider wearing a New Jersey Devils uniform? The Devils need to negotiate a new contract with Mackenzie Blackwood and Schneider’s getting paid $6 million a season to play really bad hockey. He was demoted to the minor leagues for most of this season. If they buy him out, that price turns into $2 million over the next four years.
There’s a lot of change we’re going to see from the Devils between now and whenever the NHL season starts next. New faces will come into the locker room, old faces will move on. Prospects will make the jump while older players will take on new roles. Either way, life as we know it is changing, and that’s going to impact our sports.