Bill Foley won’t be allowed to attend Golden Knights’ playoff games

Bill Foley might have to watch the Golden Knights’ playoff run from the comfort of his living room.

The team’s majority owner had planned to travel to Edmonton, Alberta, at some point during the NHL postseason, but confirmed Wednesday he is not permitted to attend games at Rogers Place.

“It’s out of my control,” Foley said in an phone interview from Montana. “It’s come to me from a pretty good source ‘spectators’ are not allowed inside the arena. They don’t want to screw up the bubble.”

The issue of Foley and other owners being denied the opportunity to watch their team play in the 24-team tournament was brought up by Knights president of hockey operations George McPhee on the latest episode of “The Bob McCown Podcast.”

Foley does not intend to stay inside the NHL’s secure zone in Edmonton and therefore is not part of the Knights’ 52-person traveling party, which is set to leave Sunday.

He hoped to watch games from a team suite inside Rogers Place, far away from any individuals staying in the secure zone.

The Knights face Arizona in an exhibition game July 30 and open the round robin Aug. 3 against Dallas.

“I wouldn’t be around the players,” Foley said. “And I’d be tested (for COVID-19) before I go in. But the government said no spectators. If you can’t have spectators, that could include (commissioner) Gary Bettman and (deputy commissioner) Bill Daly, too. I believe they’re motivated to solve the problem.”

Daly wrote in an email to the Review-Journal on Wednesday that the league is “working on it.”

For now, Foley also would be required to quarantine for 14 days if he crosses the border into Canada, which complicates his plans further.

“If we make the conference finals or the (Stanley Cup) finals, I may camp out in Edmonton and go,” Foley said. “I can pretty easily get there from Kalispell or Whitefish (Montana). But I don’t know if I’m allowed to.”

Nosek committed

As a new father and pending unrestricted free agent, forward Tomas Nosek had reasons to opt out of the NHL’s restart.

But after staying in Las Vegas during the league pause rather than returning home to Czech Republic, Nosek wanted to see out the rest of the season even if it means he’ll be a healthy scratch in the playoffs.

Nosek skated on an extra line the first six practices, but has been at fourth-line center this week while Nick Cousins fills in on the top line.

“We have a pretty good chance here, and even if I won’t be playing, I’ll still be part of this team,” Nosek said. “To have a chance to win a Stanley Cup, I think it’s once in a lifetime. There was no thinking to option out.”

Pacioretty remains out

Left wing Max Pacioretty remained “unfit to participate” and missed his second straight practice after Tuesday’s off day.

Coach Pete DeBoer said the team’s leading scorer is dealing with a “minor issue” but reiterated that it was not related to a positive coronavirus test.

“I anticipate he’ll be on the ice with us here before we leave for Edmonton,” DeBoer said.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.