The 2021 NHL trade deadline is quickly approaching (April 12th), and this year comes with some added complications (what else is new?). Specifically, I’ve had my eye on the 14-day quarantine requirement from the US-Canadian for anyone — including, say, professional athletes who’ve been traded from one team to another — moving from country to the other.
To really spell it out for you: Teams would certainly not prefer to have a recent acquisition sit out for two weeks after the deal, especially with an already shortened schedule and only half-a-season worth of games remaining.
Fortunately, there’s been a change that may not solve the problem entirely but does help:
Federal government poised to approve a 7-day quarantine with extra testing for NHL players traded from American teams to Canadian teams before the April 12th trade deadline. Government source says all provinces with NHL teams have approved of the measures.
— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) March 25, 2021
According to the CBC, the 14-day required quarantine period will be shortened to a seven-day period for trade deadline purposes. As you see in the tweet above, all Canadian provinces have approved the shortened quarantine period.
This does not apply to civilian travel, however.
This may not have the Earth-shattering effect of suddenly opening the floodgates for trades, but the easing of the quarantine will make moves between US and Canadian teams a bit easier and could open up a previously closed route to trades for teams. Unlike the NBA today, the NHL trade deadline is usually tame, with most trades happening in the two-to-three weeks leading up to the deadline.
This season, the trading climate has been barren. Aside from the Pierre-Luc Dubois for Patrik Laine trade (which required the 14-day quarantine at the time of the trade), nothing has moved the needle in the league. We’ll see if this makes teams more likely to consider cross-border trades as we approach the deadline.