The Toronto Maple Leafs game tonight against the Vancouver Canucks has been postponed.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have four players in the NHL’s Covid Protocol, while the Canucks have six.
The Leafs List: John Tavares, Alex Kerfoot, Wayne Simmonds and Jason Spezza.
The Canucks List: Tyler Myers , Brad Hunt, Juho Lammikko, Tucker Poolman and Luke Schenn. Dave King, their assistant coach, is also in the protocol.
Toronto Maple Leafs Game Postponed
This decision game down about 2PM, but it seemed likely ever since last night.
With four teams officially on pause until after Christmas, the NHL seems headed for a fullscale shutdown.
Over 10% of all current NHL players are in the league’s Covid Protocol.
I personally expect the league to announce a full shutdown, as even teams who are scheduled to play are doing so shorthanded.
The most frustrating thing about this, and the pandemic in general, is that because preventative measures are extremely unpopular, we don’t tend to take very much preventative action, even when, for weeks, expects have been telling us what will happen.
Leafs-Canucks postponed tonight
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) December 18, 2021
On the brightside, I suppose this means I’ll have time to finish that third Spiderman campaign on my PS4.
On the downside, I think it’s 100% clear right now that their will be no Olympic Hockey in this years Olympics, if there even is an Olympics.
Other good news: Not having to face the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight means that the Canucks streak of six wins in a row will remain in tact.
Bruce Boudreau’s return to the NHL has been a bright spot in an otherwise dreary couple of weeks for the NHL and it’s fans. Boudreau is about the best personality the NHL has to offer, and the league is always a better place when he’s involved.
With the dour Paul Maurice quitting yesterday, the NHL coaching ranks are looking more joyful than ever.
As for the Leafs vs Canucks, it’s a bummer that the game is off, but it’s the right thing to do. Tomorrow’s game against Seattle is also postponed.
If I had to guess, I would also say that Thursday’s game against the Blue and the post-Christmas game against the Blue Jackets are also in doubt.
Hopefully the NHL can resume and everything can go on normally, but I am afraid that that may be the least of our concerns over the next month or so.