Not So Fast For NHL To Manchester?

NHL reporter John Shannon tweeted on Monday that Manchester, New Hampshire is under consideration for NHL games should the 2019-20 season resume. The New Hampshire Union Leader dumped cold water on that report shortly after.

According to the publication, the NHL will not be staging games in New Hampshire if/when the league returns.

“Zero conversations with anyone,” a source texted the Union Leader’s Michael Cousineau. “Never heard it before you called. Not happening here, makes zero sense.”

The NHL has no timetable for a potential return from their current pause. The league was put on pause in mid-March as the COVID-19 outbreak began to ravage North America. The league has been looking at different scenarios for a potential return to play.

Among those scenarios, the league reportedly asked teams for building availability in the months of July and August. NHL players reportedly proposed a revised schedule for a return from this COVID-19 pause back in March. That proposal had them returning in early July for training camp, then finishing the 2019-20 regular season in late July. The 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs would then take place in August and September, while the draft and free agency take place in October.

It’s impossible to say if that is even realistic at this time.

Another site rumored over the weekend, in addition to Manchester? Grand Forks, North Dakota. That report came from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Per Friedman, it is expected that the NHL and NHLPA will discuss other locales for games this week.