According to information from the sports show, ten of 15 squads have been boosted, and more are to follow shortly, so that no further infections and quarantines thwart the bill. This was the case with Iserlohn and Wolfsburg, which had planned booster campaigns, said Tripcke.
Shortening the playoffs as plan B
Tripcke still wants to commit to possible emergency scenarios. One thing is clear: “Plan B would be to postpone or shorten the playoffs,” said Tripcke. Because there is no air out the back, as the World Cup begins in Helsinki on May 13th.
Suspending the newly introduced promotion and relegation could also be an option. “That would make some sleep easier, but we have a contract with the 2nd division. The competition is affected in a similar way to ours,” says Tripcke.
NHL doesn’t send players to the Olympics, DEL does
But first of all, it’s about the near future: “So it is slowly getting tight and tighter, and we have to see how we can now save ourselves into the break from the Olympics.”
The Beijing Games begin on February 4th. Unlike the North American league NHLwhich does not allow players to move to China, the DEL cannot avoid it due to a contract with the German Ice Hockey Federation. Nevertheless, Tripcke believes that the will of the DEL players to go to the Olympics, “crumble in the future” could.
Status: 07.01.2022, 3:55 pm