The Montreal Canadiens will be allowed to have 50 percent capacity at home games as of February 21, according to Quebec Premier Francois Legault today. By March 14, they will be back to full capacity under the current plan. The Canadiens have five home games between now and the first threshold, which means five more games of lost revenue for the team and league.
Recently, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman put some pressure on the government by suggesting that this summer’s draft could be pulled from Montreal if restrictions were not lifted. Should this plan move forward and there are no further complications that cause another shutdown, it would seem as though the Canadiens will host the event after all.
- Auston Matthews didn’t take part in practice but was feeling “pretty good” today according to head coach Sheldon Keefe, who spoke to reporters including Joshua Kloke of The Athletic. Matthews left last night’s game late in the third period with what appeared to be a head or neck injury after colliding with Brett Pesce. The injury wasn’t before the Toronto Maple Leafs superstar scored another two goals, taking him to 31 in 40 games this season.
- Alex Ovechkin has cleared the COVID protocol and is available for the Washington Capitals today according to head coach Peter Laviolette. Ovechkin was asymptomatic during his All-Star isolation and is expected to be in the lineup when the team takes on the Columbus Blue Jackets this evening. The team sent Brett Leason, who likely would have been in the lineup if Ovechkin had been unavailable, back to the AHL. Ilya Samsonov and Connor McMichael, who missed practice yesterday while awaiting results, have also been cleared according to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com.