NHL Postpones Sharks’ Next Two Games Due to COVID-19

 The NHL has announced drastic new measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, as multiple teams have had to postpone their games due to outbreaks among several players on those teams. 

The biggest change announced was that the league has postponed all cross-border games through the Christmas break. This directly affects the Sharks as they were initially set to host the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday and the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday before the Christmas break. Make-up dates for these games have yet to be determined. 

The Sharks’ next game is now scheduled for December 27 against the Ducks in Anaheim. As of now, the recap post for that game will be different from every other game recap I write, as I plan to attend that game. 

In addition it is now very unlikely that the NHL will participate in the Winter Olympics in Beijing. This is especially considering that participants are subject to a three-to-five-week quarantine if they test positive for COVID at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. 

The landscape of the pandemic is rapidly changing due to the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant. Some teams have had issues with COVID earlier in the season, but it has never been as bad as it has been recently. I’m really hoping that things don’t get any worse to where the league has to shut down entirely for an extended period of time. That would be a huge slap to the face for the fans and everyone involved in the NHL. I have my fingers crossed and truly believe that it won’t get to that point, but we never know until further developments occur. 

As for the games around the league that have had to be postponed due to the pandemic, the NHL should forget about participating in the Olympics this coming year. It needs to use the few weeks in February that were originally mandated to be the Olympic break to make up these postponed games without extending the season any further than necessary. 

I plan to keep close tabs on any further developments from the NHL regarding their COVID situation. The NFL and NBA have had COVID issues of their own and both plan to play through them without any significant disruptions. There is no reason why the NHL can’t do the same. We’ll have to wait and see.

 In the meantime, we must stay optimistic. At least the NHL is still continuing the 2021-22 season as it should. 

Source: NHL App