NHL postpones all games on Dec. 27, delays return to play by one day
Posted December 24, 2021 6:12 pm.
Last Updated December 24, 2021 10:10 pm.
The National Hockey League has delayed its return to play by an extra day, postponing games that were scheduled for December 27.
“The League had planned to resume its schedule on Dec. 27, but in order to allow the League an adequate opportunity to analyze League-wide testing results and to assess Clubs’ readiness to play, the target date for resumption of game play will be pushed back an additional day,” the league said in a statement on Friday.
The decision affects 14 games scheduled for Monday involving all seven Canadian-based teams.
Teams will be allowed to return to practice on Dec. 26.
Four games next Tuesday remain on the schedule but the NHL says it plans to provide another update on its plans to resume the regular season on Sunday.
RELATED: NHL COVID-19 Tracker
The league announced on Dec. 21 it was pausing its season through the Christmas break to try to stem the drastic spread of COVID-19, fueled in large part to the Omicron variant.
Roughly 15 per cent of the league’s players were in COVID protocol when the league went on pause.
The NHL confirmed on Tuesday it would not be sending its players to compete in the Beijing Olympics in February. That will allow them to use the previously scheduled Feb. 6-22 Olympic break to make up the roughly 64 games that need to be rescheduled.
