from Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press,

The NHL cited space constraints and safety concerns as the cause, then made a sneaky, last-minute exception for their own house organ. When the PHWA pushed back and asked for six spots, not unlike what the NBA has done in their Orlando bubble, they were essentially told to take a hike.

We shouldn’t be surprised. The NHL loves to control the message, and they are going to be drunk with power in this situation. For example, all practices and pre-game skates are going to be held behind closed doors, meaning no independent eyes will be around to monitor and report on what’s happening.

If a star goes down in a heap during a drill and has to be carried off the ice, there’s a good chance you won’t hear about it beyond the coach eventually identifying them as being "unfit to play" when they’re not on the ice at puck drop. If teammates get into a dust-up during practice — remember when Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler and Ben Chiarot dropped the gloves a couple years ago? — you can bet you won’t hear a peep.

Consider this: Former NHL.com employee Sean Shapiro, now covering the Dallas Stars for The Athletic, let folks know how the sausage was made the other day with a Twitter thread in which he revealed the league wouldn’t allow writers to use the term "concussion" unless a team specifically did, wouldn’t allow any reference to fights in their copy, and wouldn’t allow any news to be broken before the team was ready to release it, such as an injury or trade.

That’s not journalism, folks. That’s public relations.

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