Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Schedule

Buffalo Sabres Games Postponed Through February 8

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The NHL has not only postponed tonight’s Buffalo Sabres game, but all of their games through February 8. That includes another game against the New York Islanders on Thursday and two against the Boston Bruins (Saturday and Monday). The decision was made after two players—Rasmus Ristolainen and Taylor Hall—entered the league’s COVID Protocols.

The Sabres training facilities have been closed, effective immediately and will remain so until further notice. The schedule is still being reviewed as the situation progresses.

Buffalo was reportedly “furious” with a lack of information when they played the New Jersey Devils over the weekend, including hitting the ice against several players that entered the league’s COVID Protocol Related Absences the next day. John Vogl of The Athletic writes that the Sabres requested more information on the health of the Devils from the NHL, but that request was denied. Kyle Palmieri played on Saturday before hitting the CPRA list on Sunday, while Andreas Johnsson, Janne Kuokkanen, Michael McLeod and Pavel Zacha played in both games before being listed on Monday.

They’ll now miss at least four games that will need to be fit into the schedule down the road.

NHL Postpones Sabres-Islanders

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The NHL has postponed another game, this time between the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders tonight. The release explains as follows:

The National Hockey League announced that tonight’s Buffalo Sabres vs. NY Islanders game is being postponed due to the League’s COVID Protocol.  Due to weather conditions yesterday, the Sabres altered their travel schedule so as to fly today to New York.  So that required COVID contact tracing and testing protocols can be completed appropriately, the decision has been made to re-schedule the game for a future date.

The Sabres recently played the New Jersey Devils, who have experienced a COVID outbreak and had ten players on yesterday’s COVID Protocol Related Absences list. John Vogl of The Athletic tweets that a source has told him “Buffalo is furious” and that the Sabres asked the league for more information when Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri were added to the list but did not receive it.

This will be the 15th game postponed so far this season and fourth in the East Division just over the past two days. The Devils will be shut down for at least a week while they try to contain the spread. The Sabres are scheduled to play the Islanders again on Thurdsay, before heading to Boston for a Saturday night game against the Bruins.

NHL Postpones Several New Jersey Devils Games

at CDT | by 4 Comments

More NHL games have been postponed, this time because of a COVID outbreak among the New Jersey Devils. At least the team’s next three games, including two against the Pittsburgh Penguins and one against the New York Rangers, have been postponed due to the COVID protocol. The Devils have ten players on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list today.

This makes 14 games that have been officially postponed during the first few weeks of the 2020-21 season. All of those contests were outside of the East Division, meaning this is the first disruption to the schedule for the Devils, Penguins, and Rangers.

The team’s training facilities have been closed to all players on the active roster effective immediately and will remain so until further notice. The league is continuing to review the Devils’ schedule. There could be further postponements beyond February 6, but at this point, only the next three games have been pushed.

Postponed Vegas Golden Knights Games Rescheduled

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Feb 1: The league has announced schedule changes following the three postponements. The following has been rescheduled:

  • Game #122, St. Louis at Vegas, originally scheduled for Jan. 28, is now scheduled for Monday, March 22 at 10 p.m. ET
  • Game #149, Vegas at San Jose, originally scheduled for Feb. 1, is now scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 13 at 4 p.m. ET
  • Game #162, Vegas at San Jose, originally scheduled for Feb. 3, is now scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 25 at 10:30 p.m. ET
  • Game #241, Anaheim at San Jose, originally scheduled for Feb.13, is now scheduled for Tuesday, April 6 at 10:30 p.m.  ET
  • Game #325, Vegas at Anaheim, originally scheduled for Feb. 26, is now scheduled for Friday, April 23 at 10 p.m. ET
  • Game #326, St. Louis at San Jose, originally scheduled for Feb. 26, is now scheduled for Monday, March 8 at 10:30 p.m. ET

Jan 29: The NHL has postponed two more Vegas Golden Knights games, despite no other players from the team appearing on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list. Games against the San Jose Sharks scheduled for Monday and Wednesday have both been postponed and will be played later in the schedule.

In the release, the league specifies that three members of the Golden Knights coaching staff and one player (presumably Alex Pietrangelo, who is on the CPRA list) are isolating currently. The teams training facilities will remain closed until further notice.

The Golden Knights are currently scheduled to welcome in the Los Angeles Kings next on February 5, though it is not clear if the situation will have resolved by then. The league has not announced when the two games against the Sharks will be played, but that is now three postponed matches the Golden Knights must fit somewhere into their remaining schedule.

Perhaps the team’s four-day break in April, which follows a series against the Sharks will be the easiest place to fit the games in, though these postponements mean there will be very little rest for Vegas down the stretch.

AHL, PHPA Ratify CBA Amendments

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The AHL and Professional Hockey Players’ Association, union for minor league players, have announced the ratification of modified terms of the CBA for the 2020-21 season. The agreement allows the upcoming AHL season to move forward. League president Scott Howson released a statement:

We are very pleased that the players and the member clubs of the AHL have come together to find a solution for playing the 2020-21 season during these difficult times. We remain committed to the health and safety of our players, coaches, officials and fans, as well as everyone else who will be contributing to our league this season.

Very basically, this agreement will make an AHL season possible, but it doesn’t come without some controversy. Sean Shapiro of The Athletic reported last week that many AHL players felt very unhappy with the options in front of them and eventually agreed to protect the overall financial health of union members. If it was turned down and a season was not held, it would be the players on AHL-only deals that would take the brunt of the losses. Some players told Shapiro that they believed the AHL delay was a negotiating tactic to get better terms.

Still, for hockey fans at least, this is good news. The AHL is set to kick off their season on February 5, meaning prospects and veterans alike will get back on the ice and continue their careers. The first game of the season will be between the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Providence Bruins, scheduled for 1pm EST on Friday afternoon. The league has still not announced a schedule for the North Division as they continue to work with provincial health officials in Canada.

AHL’s Stockton Heat To Play 2020-21 Season In Calgary

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Jan 28: The AHL has officially announced the move to Calgary, where the Heat will join in the Canadian Division for 2020-21. A revised schedule will be released in the coming days.

Jan 25: In a surprising move, especially given the AHL’s return to action in less than two weeks, the Stockton Heat will not be playing in Stockton in 2021. Scott Linesburgh of The Stockton Record writes this evening that city and county officials have confirmed that the club does not intend to play out of their home city this season. Instead, the Calgary Flames’ affiliate is expected to share a home with their parent club. Linesburgh reports that this is likely just a one-year change related to the Coronavirus pandemic and cross-border logistics, though he does note that this was the final year on the Heat’s current lease at Stockton Arena.

This move will have quite the ripple effect on the AHL just ten days away from the planned start to the season. Stockton’s move north of the border, and the impossibility at this time of playing American opponents as a result, means that the AHL will have to realign on the fly once again. The Heat will be placed in the Canadian Division alongside the Belleville Senators, Laval Rocket, Manitoba Moose, and Toronto Marlies. This will mean that the Pacific Division will drop to six teams this season and the schedule, which was already released on Friday, will need to be amended. The Heat leave behind a 40-game schedule against the numerous AHL clubs in the American Southwest for an unknown slate in the Canadian Division, which has yet to release a schedule and features only one team within 1,600 miles of Calgary.

Of course, for the Flames’ purposes this means a much simpler strategy for moving players to and from the minors this season. Players who cross the border into Canada this season require a mandatory 14-day quarantine period. While the taxi squad has been implemented to offer a small group of stand-ins, any other additions for Calgary from Stockton would have left those players out of commission for two weeks. Now the team will require no wait time at all with their AHL squad expected to be sharing a facility.

The Heat’s move leaves the Edmonton Oilers as the only Canadian NHL team whose AHL affiliate remains in the U.S. or who hasn’t otherwise negotiated an agreement to send players to another AHL team in Canada, such as the Vancouver Canucks’ and Manitoba Moose’ relationship. If the Oilers plan to make such a move, they have limited time before the AHL season begins.

Sharks Set To Return To San Jose In February

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The San Jose Sharks will soon be back home at the SAP Center. Due to a ban on contact sports in Santa Clara County, the Sharks held training camp in Glendale, Arizona. The team has since played on the road and will be the “home” team in Glendale for games against the Vegas Golden Knights on February 1st and 3rd. However, the Sharks have announced that with the ban lifted back in San Jose, they have begun planning and implementing health and safety measures in preparation for a return home. The Sharks plan to make their true home debut on February 13 against the Anaheim Ducks.

The plan is for all future Sharks (and AHL Barracuda) home games beyond the upcoming Glendale series to take place in San Jose. However, the team will be on a short leash. Curtis Pashelka of The San Jose Mercury News writes that Santa Clara County has already vowed that “Any professional athletics organization that violates the order shall be immediately and automatically suspended from engaging in athletic activities.” The Sharks must abide by the NHL’s COVID Protocol anyhow, but rather than only face a league fine and players and/or coaches out of commission, the team may actually lose their home again if they do not follow local guidelines as well.

For now, the team is focused on their upcoming “home” games in Glendale. The Sharks’ players may arguably be more excited for these games than they are for their return to San Jose. Included in the team’s release today was that they have received permission to have limited attendance during the two-game series. Given the much stricter COVID climate in California, these may be the only games that the Sharks play in front of fans all year. Of course, Pashelka notes that only 2,500 tickets are expected to be sold for each game and sales are limited to Arizona citizens only, but there are sure to be some local Sharks fans in attendance.

NHL Postpones Another Carolina Hurricanes Game

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The NHL has decided to postpone another Carolina Hurricanes game, moving tomorrow’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning to next month. The Hurricanes are still dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19 and have now had four games postponed. The league also announced the rescheduling of seven games, including those already missed between the Hurricanes and Florida Panthers. As a result, the Panthers, who also had games rescheduled at the beginning of the season thanks to an outbreak on the Dallas Stars, now have 54 games scheduled in the next 102 days.

The changes are as follows:

Game #52, Carolina at Nashville, originally scheduled for Jan. 19, is now scheduled for Tuesday, March 2 at 8 p.m. ET

Game #62, Florida at Carolina, originally scheduled for Jan. 21, is now scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 5 p.m. ET

Game #76, Florida at Carolina, originally scheduled for Jan. 23, is now scheduled for Sunday, March 7 at 5 p.m.  ET

Game #97, Tampa Bay at Carolina, originally scheduled for Jan. 26, is now scheduled for Monday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. ET

Game #255, Columbus at Carolina, originally scheduled for Feb. 16, is now scheduled for Monday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. ET

Game #256, Florida at Tampa Bay, originally scheduled for Feb. 16, is now scheduled for Monday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. ET

Game #296, Carolina at Tampa Bay, originally scheduled for Feb. 22, is now scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. ET

Sharks To Play Two Home Games In Arizona

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

As a result of the ban on contact sports in Santa Clara County, the Sharks held their training camp in Arizona and were given an eight-game road trip to start the season in the hopes that there would be more clarity on whether or not they’d be able to return home by then.  That isn’t the case as the team announced that they will host their first two ’home’ games against Vegas in Glendale where the Coyotes play.  Team president Jonathan Beecher released the following statement about their hopes to return to San Jose soon:

We feel that we have put significant precautions in place, including daily COVID-19 testing of the athletes and support staff, to allow for us to safely return to play games at SAP Center, while not exposing the community to any additional health risk.  In our discussions with County officials over the past several months, we have shared our detailed return-to-play plans and are hopeful that we can find practical solutions to this difficult situation very soon.

Following this two-game set, the Sharks are back on the road for four more games with their next home games coming February 13th and 15th.  Accordingly, the team hasn’t made a decision yet on their plans for those contests.  The Coyotes also have home games those days so if San Jose is unable to return home by then, there will likely be some changes to their schedule coming over the next couple of weeks.

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 01/20/21

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 protocol. Other than the Montreal Canadiens, listed as TBA, and the Dallas Stars, the other 29 teams are covered on today’s list:

Carolina – Warren Foegele, Jordan Martinook, Jaccob Slavin, Jordan Staal, Teuvo Teravainen
Columbus – Mikko Koivu
Detroit – Adam Erne, Robby Fabbri
Florida – Juho Lammikko
Minnesota Wild – Alex Stalock
Nashville – Mikael Granlund
New Jersey – Jesper Bratt*
NY Islanders – Josh Bailey*
Philadelphia – Shayne Gostisbehere
Tampa Bay –  Curtis McElhinney
Washington Capitals – Evgeny Kuznetsov*, Dmitry Orlov*, Alex Ovechkin*, Ilya Samsonov*
Winnipeg – Anton Forsberg, Tucker Poolman

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Players removed today: Eric Comrie, New Jersey Devils; Blake Coleman, Tampa Bay Lightning.

As for the missing teams, the Canadiens are on the road in Vancouver and have until 5:00pm local time to report, but are not expected to have any players in the protocol. As has been the case so far this season, the league declined to identify anyone from Dallas and will hold off on doing so until they are able to play in their first game, now scheduled for January 22. They had a significant outbreak early in camp as 17 of the 27 players that tested positive in training camp were from the Stars.

*denotes new addition

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top