Ontario's Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture, Lisa MacLeod confirmed to Postmedia she was in talks with officials from both the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs to try and find a way to keep both teams in Canada for the 2020-21 NHL season.
This happened in response to the NHL after the league told the seven Canadian teams that they may be forced to play in the United States this season. One way that teams could still play in Canada would be if provincial health authorities agree to allow them to play in their home cities, but if that is not the case then they would be forced to play in the US.
The plan was for all seven Canadian teams to play in one division, but unfortunately, the league has not received a go-ahead from all five provinces. MacLeod is hopeful that this situation can be fixed to allow teams to play in Canada, but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made everything much more difficult.
«Everybody can have a start date but most of this is out of our control given the spread of the virus,» MacLeod said. «There's so many issues that you contend with: the local health issues, the sanitation requirements, the protocols that are in place and the rapid testing required.»
«The one thing you have when you're dealing with professional sports is the resources that come so they were equipped to do a bubble and they might be equipped, even more so, to have a Return to Play. I couldn't make that determination and I couldn't predict it because there are so many moving parts.»
Source: Ottawa Sun
