from Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun,

Bill Daly is the NHL’s second banana, best known as the guy who held up the gold card with the Oilers logo at the NHL Draft Lottery that resulted in Connor McDavid coming to Edmonton.

He’s also known as the guy who presents the trophies at the Eastern and Western Conference finals that generally nobody wants to hold or touch.

Daly, who has been in Edmonton doing his time in quarantine, completed the isolation process and has now emerged to examine the Hub City bubble of the entire Stanley Cup playoff concept that has been the ultimate success story of all the leagues’ return-to-play projects in North American pro sports.

As NHL deputy commissioner, Daly is low profile but his value has showed itself from beginning to end heading this project.

“Bill is tireless. He has been an amazing leader on all we’ve done since we paused,” said NHL chief content officer Steve Mayer. “Bill led the team that put together our health protocol and is the real reason this has been a success to this point. My events team is here to execute his plan. My admiration for him and his work ethic is beyond words.”

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