The NHL has announced a handful of updates to the remainder of the 2020-21 schedule. Several games have been postponed due to COVID-19. These updates are intended to make the remaining schedule as fair as possible across the league’s 31 franchises. NHL Public Relations provided the details Monday morning.
The @NHL today announced updates to the 2020-21 regular-season schedule.
Details: https://t.co/Wl29VNeOdD pic.twitter.com/utu3q5KFgu
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 25, 2021
NHL Updates Schedule
The Carolina Hurricanes have the most changes due to this update. They will have six games tentatively moved at this time, which includes three games whose original dates have already passed. The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning also have multiple games with shifting dates. Several teams have already played more than a fifth of the 56-game season, but Carolina and Florida are a pair of franchises that have three or fewer games under their belts. The NHL is very eager to finish the regular season and postseason on time so it can reset its own calendar to what it was in the pre-COVID era. That will create a higher degree of stress on some teams as games are compressed even further.
What This Means
There is no way to know if this is the last scheduling update the league will have to make. The only league to proceed with any semblance of normalcy since COVID entered the public consciousness is the NFL. Major League Baseball saw multiple outbreaks forcing schedule updates and the NBA is currently seeing positive test results for at least one high-profile player, Karl-Anthony Towns. The major North American sports leagues simply haven’t faced a challenge of this sort.
Fans of the affected teams will want to watch things closely. The potential for more games in fewer days could result in injuries that have further effects on free agency and team success. The global pandemic has created a very fluid situation that is changing constantly. The league, its employees, and franchise personnel will continue to do their best to finish the season as intended.
