The deadline for players to opt out of Return To Play plans is fast approaching
For many players, the past few weeks has been about tying up some loose ends and spending time with friends and family before departing for the two hub cities - Edmonton in the West and Toronto in the East - but for some, the break from hockey may be prolonged.
According to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston, players have until 5pm Eastern time on Tuesday, July 7th to opt out of Phase 3 and 4, with no penalty for doing so.
With the amount of hype and a large contingent of players voting to return and compete for a Stanley Cup, it's difficult to imagine that many players will choose to opt out. However, it is within the realm of possibility that players who may have a higher risk of becoming infected and possibly succumbing to the dangerous virus could choose to err on the side of caution, whether of their own volition or at the request of their family.
Johnston did comment that it is possible that the July 7th deadline is pushed back to allow players some extra time to make the difficult decision. After all, news of the deadline reached teams on the eve of July 5th. But, as of now, the July 7th, 5pm deadline will stand.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 11, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Martin Necas | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Ross Colton | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nazem Kadri | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Parker Kelly | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brock Nelson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nico Sturm | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Danila Yurov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Drury | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brock Faber | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Quinn Hughes | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nicolas Roy | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Vladimir Tarasenko | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Ahcan | - | - | - | |
| Mackenzie Blackwood | - | - | - | |
| Zach Bogosian | - | - | - | |
| Matthew Boldy | - | - | - | |
| Brent Burns | - | - | - | |
| Marcus Foligno | - | - | - | |
| Nick Foligno | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||