NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly expects the league to have fewer than 15 players who are not vaccinated by the start of the season, he told The Athletic's Ryan Clark and Mark Lazerus in an exclusive interview on Thursday morning.
Daly said that for players on final rosters, the vaccination rate is in the 98-99 percent range. He admitted that the high vaccination rate did surprise him "a little bit."
"That certainly was our goal, to get as many people fully vaccinated as possible," he continued. "Not only among players but hockey operations personnel, club personnel, generally. If you’re going to have any access to the players, it needs to be mandatory, including the media.
"We want everybody fully vaccinated and, obviously, the last couple of months have shown that that doesn’t necessarily preclude the fact that people are going to get the infection. But it certainly increases the likelihood that it’s not a serious health and safety concern."
Last month, the NHL players' association strongly urged its members to get vaccinated, warning they could risk not getting paid for games missed if they contract COVID-19 during the upcoming season. Daly said that the league was aligned with the players association in wanting as high a vaccination rate as possible.
"I know they spent a lot of time on the phone with players, reluctant players who didn’t want to be vaccinated for various reasons, explaining to them why it was important for them to be vaccinated."
The NHL's vaccination rate is higher than other professional sports leagues in North America. The NFL, for example, boasts a 93.5 percent vaccination rate among players as of last Wednesday morning, a league source told The Athletic at the time. This includes at least two teams at 100 percent (Buccaneers and Falcons).
"I know all the leagues are aligned with the importance of vaccination in terms of our ability to do everyday business," Daly said when asked about the subject. "I think all the leagues have strongly recommended and encouraged vaccination. I think they've all adopted various measures over time that are intended to incentivize vaccination. I think that’ll continue to be the case.
"I’m pleased that we have as high a subscription rate as we do. I don’t really know what to attribute that to but I’m happy about it."
In early September, the league finalized COVID-19 protocols for the 2021-22 season that will allow teams to suspend unvaccinated players who are "unable to participate in club activities," according to a copy of the protocols obtained by The Athletic.
(Photo: Dave Sandford / NHLI via Getty Images)
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How did the NHL get such a high number of vaccinated players?
