It’s official. Vancouver will not be an NHL hub city.

The Canucks made that announcement in a statement thanking the province for the work they’ve done in trying to lobby the NHL to pick the city as its Western Conference hub city.

“I’m disappointed the NHL playoffs won’t be coming to Vancouver, but we will not bend the rules on public health guidelines and risk the progress we’ve made,” Premier John Horgan said on twitter.

“Protecting the health and safety of people in B.C. is our number one priority.”

Canadian regulations require anyone coming into the country to self-isolate for 14 days. B.C. health officials were willing to allow NHL teams to quarantine as a group in a ‘social bubble’ with no interaction with the public during that period.

Asked about any concerns that Vancouver might be out of the running because of its regulations in place, Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry reaffirmed that B.C. would not compromise its plan in the event that any member of an NHL team were to test positive for the virus.

“We recognize very much that if there was a large number of people who were testing positive and had an illness, that it was likely that some people’s health could have been at risk, and that people might have more severe illnesses and that there needed to be contingent built into the plan to make sure that we were able to deal with that,” she said.

“That’s the extent of the interactions we had around those issues.”

The NHL is looking for two hub cities as part of its goal to play out the playoffs – one for each conference.

Edmonton and Toronto are the two other potential venues in Canada, both are still in the running to host games. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Chicago are the three American cities in the running.

“From the beginning our goal was to help the NHL get hockey back on the ice if we could,” said Tom Carroll, the COO for Canucks Sports and Entertainment. “Although Vancouver won’t be a hub city, we are still excited to see hockey start up again.”

Carroll went on to say that Canucks players are expected back at Rogers Arena in the coming weeks to resume training camp ahead of the season.

I’m disappointed the NHL playoffs won’t be coming to Vancouver, but we will not bend the rules on public health guidelines and risk the progress we’ve made. Protecting the health and safety of people in BC is our number one priority.

Wherever they hit the ice, go #Canucks! https://t.co/ud6zUAd9L4

— John Horgan (@jjhorgan) June 25, 2020