NHL teams get first taste of pandemic hockey as first day of summer camp unfolds
Toronto Maple Leafs staff members wear masks as Leafs' Zach Hyman, left, and William Nylander watch a drill as training camp opens in Toronto, on July 13, 2020, ahead of the resumption of the NHL season.The Maple Leafs and 23 other NHL teams got their first taste of pandemic hockey on Monday as the league moved closer to a return to play after a four-month pause due to the spread of COVID-19.
The same measures were implemented by each of the two-dozen organizations that are preparing for rejigged playoffs that begin with a qualifying round on Aug. 1, provided the contagious respiratory illness can be kept in check. In recognition of that, Maple Leafs players will wear Black Lives Matter T-shirts beneath their jerseys from now until the end of the season. They donned them as a group for the first time on Monday.
Ilya Mikheyev, a promising rookie from Russia who was sidelined on Dec. 27 when an artery and tendons were severed in his right wrist, looked especially sharp. So did Andersen and Nick Robertson, an 18-year-old left wing who scored 55 goals in 46 games this year for Peterborough in the Ontario Hockey League.“It’s just nice to be back, to be in Toronto with all of my teammates, doing what we all love,” Matthews said.
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