The NHL has decided to ere on the side of caution as a result of Adam Gaudette’s positive COVID-19 test. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that tonight’s game between the Canucks and Flames has been postponed. The league has subsequently released the following statement:
The National Hockey League announced today that, as a result of two Vancouver Canucks Players (including one Player who was added to the COVID Protocol List after it was released at 5:00 p.m. ET today) as well as a member of their coaching staff entering the NHL’s COVID Protocols, the team’s game tonight against the Calgary Flames will be postponed. The decision was made by the League’s, NHLPA’s and Club’s medical groups. The League will provide a further update tomorrow.
This is a light week on the schedule for Vancouver as they’re just coming off of a week-long break and aren’t scheduled to play again until they begin a seven-game road trip in Edmonton on Saturday. Clearly, that may not begin as scheduled now. As for Calgary, they’re also set to play Edmonton next with their next game scheduled for Friday. With the Canucks being the team with someone on the CPRA list, the Flames could still continue on with their schedule.
The North Division recently had recently undergone a substantial schedule reshuffling as a result of Montreal’s COVID-19 situation with the Canadiens only getting cleared to resume their schedule last night. With those changes, the regular season was extended to May 11th so the league may need to use that extension to get this game in now although if Vancouver is forced to postpone other games, it could result in another sizable scheduling shakeup over the coming days as well.