The NHL needs to pause their season
The NHL season doesn't need to be canceled, but a pause could help everyone get back on track.
It’s official - the NHL has a COVID-19 problem. With Tuesday night’s game between the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers being postponed thanks to Flyers captain Claude Giroux and Flyers defenseman Justin Braun joining the COVID list, the league has already had to postpone at least 30 games because of COVID. The season started on January 13th and today is February 10th, so the season is 28 days old. In case you suck at math like me, that’s… hold on… *pulls out abacus*… over one postponed game per day. That’s not good!
Over 75% of NHL teams (24 out of 31 to be precise) have had at least one player on the COVID-19 protocol list. Now, that doesn’t mean all of those players have had COVID-19, but at the very least, those players were in close contact with someone who tested positive.
The New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild have all had significant COVID-19 issues (more on the Sabres and Devils later). On Tuesday, there were 48 players on the COVID-19 protocol list. Ideally, every team ices 19 players (18 skaters and a goalie) each game. So that’s more than two full teams on the COVID-19 protocol list.
A break is needed for several reasons. The obvious reason is that every division except for the Canadian Division has seen multiple games postponed. Considering the league had a very successful bubble in Canada, this isn’t too surprising.
But the league could also use a break to settle things down and examine how they can keep their players safe. Because right now, they aren’t doing that.
COVID-19 Protocols Aren’t Working
I’m not going to beat around the bush. The NHL’s COVID-19 protocols aren’t working. I’m assuming the objective of the protocols is to keep the players safe. If that isn’t the objective, it’s time to make that the objective. And if it is the objective, it’s not accomplishing its goal.
The Washington Capitals remain the only team to be fined for not following protocols. Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Ilya Samsonov, and Dmitry Orlov hung out in a hotel room without masks. The Capitals were fined $100,000 and the quartet had to miss multiple games. This only accounts for a very small percentage of the players on the COVID-19 protocol list. The Stars, Hurricanes, Flyers, Sabres, Devils, and Wild weren’t fined, so one can assume they were following the protocols. Yet they still had significant outbreaks.
Speaking of the Devils and Sabres, I’m not sure how the players have any confidence in the NHL right now after what happened on January 30th and 31st. The Devils didn’t provide sufficient information and neither did the NHL. Even after several Devils joined the COVID-19 protocol list on the 31st, they were still allowed to play. Later, the Sabres had an outbreak and it’s going to be at least two full weeks before they play again. The Sabres are pissed off and they have every reason to be.
The Sabres believe they were forced into a dangerous situation. They hosted New Jersey on Saturday and Sunday despite the Devils showing significant signs of a coronavirus outbreak.
New Jersey’s Travis Zajac was added to the COVID-19 protocol list Friday and did not travel to Buffalo. Kyle Palmieri played Saturday and was added to the list Sunday.
The Sabres, according to multiple sources, requested more information from the NHL and the Devils about the health of their opponent. Their request was denied.
While the NHL has made things more strict, their protocols aren’t working. Plain and simple. But let’s be fair. The NHL was always going to have a very hard time controlling COVID-19 because of the cold, dry air inside most arenas.
At the same time, the NHL didn’t handle the Devils and Sabres situation properly. And they sure as heck didn’t learn from the mistake. On Feb. 8, the Flyers had several players at risk. Instead of doing the smart thing and postponing their game against the Capitals, they played. Lo and behold, two days later, Giroux and Braun joined their COVID-19 protocol list. The Capitals potentially got exposed for no good reason. This all could have been avoided.
Just last night, the Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks canceled their post-game media availability sessions due to COVID-19 concerns. According to Jesse Granger of The Athletic, Tomas Nosek was pulled from the game after the second period under fairly suspicious circumstances.
I looked back at the game and, just like Jesse, I didn’t notice Nosek looking hobbled at all, nor did I see him get hit hard or anything. We’ll get an update at around 5 p.m. EST.
I’m not saying the season should be canceled. Not yet, anyway. But a break could help everyone. It would allow teams to get their COVID-19 situations under control and stop the spreading. It would allow the league and its players to focus on creating stricter protocols to optimize player safety.
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