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Mika_Kandinsky · 03-12-2020, 05:32 PM

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1,006 words, 2x draft media

Simulation hockey fans everywhere are anticipating with great enthusiasm, the S53 SHL draft. It's an event to celebrate the game at it's highest levels as we welcome in the newest faces to the league. A day of hope and celebration for franchises and players alike. Teams flock to a rival's arena and set up camp in order to pick their guys and build their teams. This year, however, there is an air of trepidation as the Corona Virus continues to spread throughout the world. Everyone is on notice and wondering what could be coming in the next few days and weeks ahead. Will the league cancel the draft? Will the league decide to hold the draft by proxy? These are all solutions that must be thought out and decided upon before the draft is upon us.

Already some teams are debating whether they are going to make the journey out to the draft. There is certainly a risk of catching or spreading the virus in a place where everyone is meeting, talking, shaking hands, and giving hugs to their new star players. An arena, packed with finds all mingling together and discussing the draft at hand. It is a potential hot bed for the spread of the virus. One could see how this could become problematic quickly for the league. It begs the question, why hasn't the league released a statement on this subject yet? Other leagues around the world are already playing to empty arenas in a bid to keep their seasons alive and moving forward. Yet, the SHL has so far pretended like the problem of COVID-69 doesn't exist. We urge them to make a statement acknowledging the threat to their big day.

A safe solution for the draft would be to have the draft by proxy. Basically, one giant teleconference. The draft could be live streamed with all of the team's management in a chat room watching and making their picks. Surely, this won't be as much fun for the fans or the teams and players involved, but it is safe and it will perform the functions needed to have a successful draft day. This will protect the young players, the fans and the management alike. Not to mention all of the staff that would have to be working the arena during draft day.

Another option would be to hold the draft without having the public arrive. This would certainly limit the amount of people in the arena and thus limiting the exposure to the virus, however, there will still be a good number of people there who have traveled from all over to be there. This gives COVID-69 a smaller, but not insignificant chance of being spread compared to everyone showing up for the event. The travel to and from the event would potentially still expose thousands of people to the virus if it begins to spread around the draft. You have to remember, this virus will spread with exponential growth as people can be infected and transmitting without showing any signs of symptoms for up to 2 weeks!

It seems like the league won't have much of a choice and will have to have a draft by proxy this year. This will certainly have a financial impact on the league, but it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the health of the players, staff and fans of the league. The draft is about stocking up for the future, and the league has a responsibility to protect that future from the harm of COVID-69.

We asked Mika Kandinsky to give us some thoughts on what he thought about the situation with the draft and the virus when we caught up with him after he had just come off the ice for training and he had this to say:

"I think it's just a really unfortunate situation for the league and the whole world right now. We all have a lot of things that we want to do, and going to the draft is one of those things. But sometimes, you need to do what is right and the thing that is hardest. I think this is for the protection of the entire continent and even the world. Doing anything we can to mitigate the spread now will probably pay dividends later. It's going to be really hard on the teams and players not to have the event, though and I can see why the league is waiting to make any announcements. If this was my draft that was in threat of being shut down, I'd be really upset. Getting drafted was a highlight of my hockey career and I wouldn't want that to be taken away from anyone. That being said, it would be far worse to lose anyone in the community to the virus if it could be prevented. And if we can do our part in helping to not spread COVID-69, we should definitely do everything that we can."

Pretty understandable words from the young star. The league has a responsibility to the entire community to make a decision and come out with a statement. Everyone would love to see the draft go on, but at this time, the risk might just be too high to stomach. If the draft isn't cancelled to the public and no one shows up out of fear, that would be a huge waste of money and resources. It's better to get out ahead of this thing and suck it up and make the call. Cancel draft day and move it to an online medium for the protection and health of all those involved and all those not involved who could be infected by the ripple effects of holding such a large scale event at this delicate time. This writer is urging the SHL to take immediate action in joining the world in helping to stop the rapid spread of COVID-69.

ml002 · 03-12-2020, 05:33 PM

Nice

Credit to Copenhagen, Wasty, FlappyGiraffe, InciteHysteria, and caltroit_red_flames
[Image: MM4nqx6.png]

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