NHL to handle all injury, illness updates during Phase 3 and 4

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

The NHL and NHL Player’s Association have mutually agreed that clubs will no longer be permitted to disclose player injury and/or illness information during Phase 3 and Phase 4 of the NHL’s return-to-play.

In place of club announcements, the NHL said that it “will continue to announce, on a regular basis throughout Phase 3 and Phase 4, positive Player test results for COVID-19 while not releasing individual Player or Team identities.”

The policy revision was adopted given the unique circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and to allow for an individual player’s right to medical privacy, the league said in a statement.

The change will take effect at the start of Phase 3 — when training camps for teams will open in 24 cities — on Monday, July 13.

On Friday, the NHL and NHLPA ratified a four-year collective bargaining agreement extension and return-to-play plan. The first games of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers are scheduled to start on Aug. 1.

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