How the NHL is handling COVID-19, game postponements and makeup games
Between the holiday break, a league-wide pause, Canadian attendance restrictions and a continued COVID-19 surge, more than 90 NHL games have now been postponed.
That number includes a handful for the Seattle Kraken. By the time they take the ice against the Avalanche on Monday, the Kraken won’t have played a game for eight days. A break that long isn’t easy for any team, but Seattle is trying to take advantage of the pause by resetting mentally and increasing the competitiveness at practice.
With so many games to makeup and COVID-19 still postponing others across the NHL, what will the remainder of the season look like? To get you up to speed, here’s an explainer on what’s happened so far and the decisions still to come.
How many games have been postponed?
More than 90 games have been postponed due to COVID-19, including an additional two games — both scheduled to be played in Canada — announced on Friday.
How many Kraken games have been postponed?
So far, the Kraken have had seven games postponed, including three this week. Seattle is scheduled to return to the ice on Monday at Colorado. The Kraken haven’t played since losing to Vancouver on Jan. 1. They are currently in the midst of a five-game losing streak and have dropped eight of their last nine games.
Here’s a full list of the Seattle games that have been postponed:
▪ Dec. 19 vs. Toronto
▪ Dec. 21 vs. Arizona
▪ Dec. 23 @ Calgary
▪ Dec. 27 @ Vancouver
▪ Jan. 4 vs. New York
▪ Jan. 6 vs. Ottawa
▪ Jan. 8 @ Winnipeg
What about the Olympics?
The NHL announced in December that NHL players will not participate in the Olympics due to the number of players in COVID-19 protocol and the game postponements caused by the surge.
The Olympic roster will now consist of amateur players and professionals from other leagues. Kraken prospect Matty Beniers — the team’s first-round pick in the 2021 Entry Draft — was one of the 15 players invited to participate in the Olympics. Participation has not been confirmed.
How will the postponed games be made up?
Makeup dates have yet to be announced for any of the postponed games. The NHL had a three-week break scheduled for February so players could participate in the Olympics. Now, those weeks will be used to make up games. The league hasn’t yet announced a schedule.
The games can’t simply be moved to the February break since arenas have been booked with other events.
“The NHL will have to find openings where it can,” ESPN reporter Kristen Shilton wrote. “The rescheduling process will undoubtedly be nightmarish, but now that the NHL has its decision on the Olympics they can start the process sooner than later.” Shilton wrote that story when just 50 games had been postponed. Finding new dates for the more than 90 games — and counting — will be an even greater challenge.
What’s going on with the Canadian teams?
The seven Canadian teams are all playing under attendance restrictions of varying intensity. In Quebec, no fans are allowed. Alberta is permitting 50% attendance. Most games scheduled to be played in Canada have been postponed with the hope of rescheduling when fans will be allowed to attend.
But NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said on Sportsnet 590 that the league can’t afford to postpone many more games for Canadian teams.
“I wouldn’t say we’re at that point definitively yet, but I think that we’re basically there,” he said. “I think what we’ve done for the Canadian franchises, to this point, it contemplates postponements out through kind of the middle of January. That’s about as far as we can go. I don’t expect to see a lot of Canadian home dates further moved — I think we’re pretty much there.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 3:10 PM.
