Shanahan: Maple Leafs are 'in full support' of NHL decision to hit pause on season

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Just a week ago, the question was being put to members of the Maple Leafs: Could you imagine playing games in empty rinks, taking into account the fears of the spread of COVID-19?

None could. In fact, some of those players we asked during the Leafs’ trip to California didn’t even want to contemplate the idea.

“It would be hard to believe, especially on the revenue side of things, to think it would be a possibility,” Leafs captain John Tavares said last Thursday at the Staples Center.

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Coach Sheldon Keefe didn’t want to touch the subject with a 10-foot hockey stick.

“I can’t (imagine it),” Keefe said. “I don’t really want to deal with the hypotheticals.”

If only the hypotheticals had became reality.

We weren’t contemplating anything beyond that. Members of the media weren’t thinking that the National Hockey League season could be put on pause, never mind seven days later. Certainly, that idea hadn’t occurred to any of the players.

It became fact at approximately 1:35 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, when the NHL said it would pause the season, starting with games that night, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the NHL released a statement announcing its decision — one that was supported by the NHL Players’ Association — the Leafs released a statement quoting team president Brendan Shanahan.

“The health and safety of our fans, players, staff and media always remains at the forefront of our decision-making as a hockey club and League, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are in full support of the decision reached today by the NHL, its member clubs and players,” Shanahan said. “Like you, we have many questions about what’s to come in the future. We will continue to monitor this situation and will remain in contact with Toronto Public Health, Public Health Agency of Canada and the National Hockey League. We will provide relevant team updates as they become available.

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“Our thanks to our fans for their support and understanding as we continue to navigate this very fluid situation.”

The Leafs were scheduled to play host to the Nashville Predators at Scotiabank Arena, one of 10 NHL games on the docket for Thursday.

Plans for a Leafs team meeting the morning, followed by media availability, were scuttled and players were sent home; though the Predators’ equipment was piled in bags outside the visitors’ dressing room and sticks were in their usual spot near the dressing-room door to the arena hallway, no Nashville players were to be seen.

The Leafs, like players across the NHL, were told to self-isolate once they got to their homes in the city on Thursday. Players won’t be congregating any time soon to resume practising or have team meetings.

“They’re in a bit of what-the-(bleep) mode,” an agent with several ties to the Leafs told us on Thursday. “It just came fast. It’s more that they’re suddenly not playing, not that they disagree with the decision made to pause the season.”

The season hits pause with 12 games remaining for the Leafs, with Toronto in third place in the Atlantic Division with 81 points, three up on the Florida Panthers in the race for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Importantly, as it could come into play if games resume and the NHL goes straight into the post-season, the Leafs’ points percentage is .579, while the Panthers come in at .565.

We’re not going to know for a while whether Auston Matthews, sitting at 47 goals, will have a chance to become the fourth Leafs player and first since Dave Andreychuk in 1993-94 to score 50 goals in a season.

As with the case with teams across the NHL, the Leafs were asked to provide an update on arena availability though the end of July in the event that playoff games are contested then.

Going by the Scotiabank Arena website, there are four nights booked in June and 10 in July, the majority for concerts.

Let’s hope, some time well before next fall, that the pandemic has eased to the point that the NHL returns and the Leafs are slotted back in dates in their home rink.