NHL shuts down 2 more teams

Postponements and coronavirus problems for the NHL are coming at a dizzying and disquieting pace not seen since earlier in the pandemic.

The league shut down two more teams through the Christmas holiday break Friday, eager to avoid putting all 32 on pause amid worsening COVID-19 conditions across North America. A total of 20 NHL games have now been postponed, the majority of which have come in recent days, and roughly 10% of the 700-plus players are currently in the league’s virus protocol.

While teams are reporting mostly asymptomatic or mild cases among players, the growing number of positive tests is adding to concerns that the NHL will not send its players to the Winter Olympics in China and threatening to upend a schedule for a league with seven teams in Canada that relies on cross-border travel more than any other.

“The fact that we only shut down two additional teams means we are trying to avoid a full league shutdown,” Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press by email. He added that is “obviously subject to change based on circumstances.”

All games for the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers have been postponed through at least next weekend, and the hard-hit Calgary Flames had their shutdown extended through the Dec. 24-26 holiday break.

“It was the only call to be made,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving said on a video call.

The training facilities for all three teams have been closed with the league citing “concern with the number of positive cases within the last two days as well concern for continued COVID spread in the coming days.”

In another blow to a league that relies heavily on ticket revenue, four of the five Canadian provinces that are home to NHL teams are or will soon limit venue capacity to 50%. Only Alberta, home to Edmonton and Calgary, had not announced a similar restriction and in fact was going ahead as planned with the world junior men’s hockey championship that opens Dec. 26.

More than 70 NHL players are now in protocol, including 19 on the Flames. It is a discouraging sign for the the league, where all but one player on active rosters across the league, Detroit’s Tyler Bertuzzi, are considered fully vaccinated.