The NHL and Colorado Avalanche have announced that three games will be postponed due to several players entering the league’s COVID protocol. The team will not play tonight, Sunday, or April 20th. Additionally, the team will not reopen their facilities for practice until the 21st. The announcement was made Friday afternoon.
Update from the NHL.https://t.co/6pYL259Y52
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 16, 2021
NHL Postpones Avalanche Games
It’s hard to know how this will affect the team through the remainder of the year. While it is obviously not ideal for a team to miss games this late in the year, the team should still have the time to recover and finish all of the games. They are currently four points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights, but one of the postponed games is against Vegas. That means their division lead is mostly safe for now.
The main question will be how the players themselves respond. Fans will note that some of the Vancouver Canucks who have contracted COVID in recent weeks report that it has affected them in a noticeable way. The team may only have three players in protocol right now, but one of them is star goalie Philipp Grubauer. If he feels long-term effects of the illness, it will be up to a combination of Devan Dubnyk and Jonas Johansson to shoulder the burden.
What Colorado Avalanche Postponed Games Means
Every positive test and postponement is a further reminder that the pandemic continues to affect hockey across North America. We may see vaccination rates spike to the point where these obstacles are not relevant by the time the postseason begins, but that is not true at this time. There is nothing more to do at this point but hope none of the affected persons suffer serious effects. The league has been fortunate nobody has passed away, but now is no time to relax on health and safety.
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