NHL Postpones Saturday’s Kraken-Islanders Game
There have been plenty of postponements throughout the NHL this season due to COVID. However, Friday’s announcement that Saturday’s contest between the Kraken and the Islanders will not be played as scheduled is not the next on that list. Instead, a weather-related state of emergency in New York is the reason why this game won’t be played.
The Isles were set to begin the first half of a back-to-back set with both games at home. Sunday’s contest against Minnesota hasn’t been affected at this time. As for Seattle, they were set to play both New York teams in matinees this weekend and are next set to play against the Rangers, barring a weather-related postponement for that one as well.
Both teams will have a slightly shorter All-Star break as a result of Saturday’s postponement. The game has been rescheduled for February 2nd, meaning both teams will be playing on the back half of a back-to-back at that time while they won’t resume play after that contest until one week later.
Capitals Looking Into Marc-Andre Fleury
While the Capitals are quite comfortably in a playoff spot (13 points ahead of Detroit for the final Wild Card slot), they’re also within striking distance of first in the Metropolitan as they were five points out of first heading into tonight’s games. They’ve managed to accomplish this on the backs of Alex Ovechkin and one of the strongest offensive groups in the league even with goaltending that has been near the middle of the pack.
Accordingly, it appears they’re at least exploring a potential upgrade between the pipes as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column that they are looking into the possibility of acquiring Blackhawks goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
Washington is currently platooning youngsters Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov with Zach Fucale getting into a handful of games this season and they’ve played to a 2.56 GAA with a .908 SV%. Those numbers are actually similar to what Fleury has put up this season (2.76 GAA, .913 SV%) although Chicago has had some struggles on the back end that have to be taken into consideration.
It was only last season that the 37-year-old won the Vezina Trophy, recording a 1.98 GAA with a .928 SV% with Vegas who decided to move Fleury to Chicago over the summer to free up some salary cap space with his $7MM AAV coming off the books. The Blackhawks gave up very little in return, the rights to Mikael Hakkarainen, who was released three weeks later.
Accordingly, in the right environment with a chance of a long playoff run, Fleury could represent a notable upgrade and it’s understandable that Washington is at least looking into this possibility. He’d certainly give them a boost for the stretch run while allowing Chicago to bring back a lot more than what they gave up to get him.
That said, making the money work will be a challenge. Washington has just over $2MM in cap space, per CapFriendly, and that’s due to Anthony Mantha being on LTIR. If he’s unable to return before the end of the regular season, that could, in theory, be applied towards Fleury’s price tag but if the winger can return, that will basically make the Caps capped out in order to get back into cap compliance.
Chicago can retain up to 50% and if the Capitals are willing, a third team could get involved and retain 50% of the remainder (25% of the full deal) to help mitigate the cap impact although some further work would need to be done to get compliant. It seems unlikely that GM Brian MacLellan would want to part with either Vanecek or Samsonov to accommodate a few months of Fleury and if that’s the case, they’ll have to find a way to afford to carry three goalies the rest of the way.
Fleury has a 10-team no-trade list in his contract and it’s unknown if Washington is on there. Even if it is, it’s quite likely that Chicago would give the veteran a chance to approve or nix a deal to the Capitals or anywhere else after they worked with him to get him to agree to join the Blackhawks in the first place.
Regardless of whether or not this works out, it appears Washington is trying to think big in terms of shoring up their goaltending situation which will make them a team to watch for in the weeks leading up to the March 21st trade deadline.
Injury Updates: Kakko, Lightning, Okposo, Murray
The upper-body injury that landed Rangers winger Kaapo Kakko on injured reserve is one that has been lingering for a little while and could keep him out for a while, reports Mollie Walker of the New York Post. It has been a disappointing third season for the 2019 second-overall selection who has managed just 14 points in 37 games although the fact he was playing through this could at least play a small role in his sluggish start. Head coach Gerard Gallant indicated that the 20-year-old is currently listed as out week-to-week.
Other injury notes from around the NHL:
- The Lightning will be without defensemen Zach Bogosian and Erik Cernak for the next three games, relays Joe Smith of The Athletic (Twitter link). Bogosian is dealing with a lower-body injury while Cernak’s hasn’t been disclosed yet. Both blueliners will be re-evaluated after that stretch which suggests they’ll be out at least a little longer beyond that point.
- Sabres winger Kyle Okposo has resumed skating but is not with the team on their road trip which begins tonight in Ottawa, notes Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. The veteran is working his way back from an upper-body injury and has actually been one of Buffalo’s better offensive players this season as he ranks fourth in team scoring with 23 points in 37 games.
- Avalanche defenseman Ryan Murray skated in a non-contact jersey on Monday and is getting close to returning to the lineup, mentions Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. The veteran has missed five straight games with an upper-body injury and his return would be a welcome one with there being no timetable for Bowen Byram’s return.
Keith Yandle Sets NHL Ironman Record
Last season, Patrick Marleau broke a record that some expected to withstand the test of time when he broke the all-time games played mark. Today, another record that had stood for a long time was broken when Flyers defenseman Keith Yandle suited up in the starting lineup against the Islanders, his 965th straight game played, surpassing Doug Jarvis who had held the record since 1986.
Yandle is in his 16th NHL season and hasn’t missed a game since March 26, 2009, back in his first full season. But getting to this point hasn’t been without its challenges as he was very nearly made a healthy scratch in Florida at the start of last season but managed to play in every game, albeit in a more limited role than he was accustomed to.
After the Panthers bought the 35-year-old out last summer, he signed a one-year, $900K contract with Philadelphia (that holds full no-trade protection) with the hopes that he could add some firepower to their back end. That hasn’t happened, however, as he has just 13 assists in 42 games while his playing time has dipped to just over 15 minutes a night, nearly six minutes below his career average.
While Yandle has the record, there’s definitely a chance that his benchmark – which should continue to grow in the coming weeks – won’t be the top one for as long as Jarvis held his record. Coyotes winger Phil Kessel is suiting up in his 941st career game tonight and while he obviously won’t make up any ground as long as both are playing every game, the veteran winger is a year younger and is still fairly productive which could give him a chance to catch Yandle at some point.
But that chase is for a later date. At this moment, Yandle stands alone with the ironman record and if he continues to play in every game for the Flyers this season, he’ll crack the 1,000 consecutive games played mark in April.
Jets Announce Several Roster Moves
Prior to their game tonight against Florida, the Jets announced (Twitter link) quite a few roster moves. Defensemen Dylan DeMelo and Logan Stanley were both placed on injured reserve while fellow blueliner Josh Morrissey entered COVID protocol. That resulted in the recalls of rearguards Ville Heinola and Johnny Kovacevic from the taxi squad as well as forward Kristian Reichel. In order to get cap-compliant to make those moves, goaltender Mikhail Berdin was sent back to the taxi squad while center David Gustafsson was transferred to LTIR.
DeMelo suffered an upper-body injury back on Saturday against Boston and has been listed as day-to-day since then; if the IR placement was backdated, he will be eligible to return as soon as this weekend. As for Stanley, he was injured back on Thursday with interim head coach Dave Lowry telling reporters, including Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe (Twitter link) that Stanley’s designation is longer than day-to-day. At this point, the fact that they didn’t see fit to place him on LTIR should at least be considered as some cause for optimism as that would have forced him to miss 10 games and 24 days. That’s what will happen for Gustafsson although he last played nearly three weeks ago and assuming his placement was backdated, he could be back as soon as next week.
The loss of Morrissey will certainly be a big loss for the Jets in the short term as he logs just shy of 23 minutes a game on the back end, the most of anyone on the team. He’ll be out for at least five days as a result of this placement as long as it’s for a confirmed positive test.
As for the recalls, Heinola is the most experienced with 13 career games under his belt although none of them have come this season as Winnipeg has opted to have the 2019 first-rounder develop with a consistent role in the AHL where he has chipped in with 16 points in 24 games. Reichel made his NHL debut last month and has played in five games overall this season, picking up his first career NHL goal in the process. Meanwhile, Kovacevic is in his fourth season in Winnipeg’s system and this is his first career recall to the big club. He has 14 points in 32 games with AHL Manitoba so far in 2021-22.
Five Key Stories: 1/17/22 – 1/23/22
With the trade market basically being non-existent at the midway point of the season, most of the biggest news in the NHL over the past seven days came away from the rink, including the rescheduling of over 100 games.
Flyers Injuries: On top of seeing their losing streak extend to 11 games marking the second stretch of at least 10 straight losses this season, Philadelphia also got hit hard by injuries to a pair of key forwards. First, center Kevin Hayes will miss three to four weeks after undergoing a procedure to drain fluid from his adductor region. The veteran has been limited to just 20 games this season with multiple IR stints plus a stint in COVID protocol. Meanwhile, winger Joel Farabee will be out for up to four weeks with an upper-body injury. The 21-year-old has seen his production drop like many Philadelphia players this season but he still has 11 goals in 33 games.
Two For Orlov: Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov received a two-game suspension for his knee-on-knee hit on Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers. It’s the second time that the 30-year-old has been suspended after being hit with one for a boarding incident back in 2014. He missed games against Boston and Ottawa and will be able to return on Monday against Vegas. Ehlers, on the other hand, won’t be returning for a while as he was placed on LTIR on Saturday, freeing up the cap space for them to activate Blake Wheeler. As a result, Ehlers will miss at least 10 games and 24 days.
Setback For Price: Canadiens goaltender Carey Price hasn’t played at all this season with his recovery from offseason knee surgery going slower than expected. It turns out that the veteran recently had a setback and will be essentially starting from scratch in his recovery as he tries to work his way back to the ice at some point this season. Montreal has struggled considerably this season with Jake Allen and Samuel Montembeault between the pipes and with Price having four years left on his contract, they will be balancing a fine line between having him return in a situation where they have no playoff hopes while also wanting to ensure that their star goalie won’t have any question marks heading into 2022-23.
New GM: Still with Montreal, they now have their replacement for former GM Marc Bergevin as Kent Hughes was named their new general manager. The 52-year-old has never worked in an NHL front office but has plenty of experience around the NHL having served as a player agent and had more than $290MM of contracts on his roster before deciding to go with this career change. Like Executive VP of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton, Hughes received a five-year contract and the duo will look to rebuild a Canadiens team that has gone from a Stanley Cup Finalist to lottery contender in roughly six months.
Protocols Changing: There should soon be a sharp decline in the number of players testing positive for COVID-19. Following the All-Star Game, the only times that players and team staff will be tested is for cross-border travel or if they’re showing symptoms. Roughly 73% of NHL rosters have tested positive this season so that decrease was likely to happen on its own with players not being subject to testing for three months after that time but a few weeks from now, the list of players in COVID protocol should be pretty short.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pacific Notes: Karlsson, Fowler, Oleksiak
While Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson is officially listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, there appears to be some cause for concern. Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News reports that the blueliner and San Jose team doctors will be meeting to discuss their options as to how to proceed. That would seem to imply a rehab versus surgery discussion and neither of those are particularly appealing for Karlsson who has been having somewhat of a resurgent season to this point. The 31-year-old has 26 points in 33 games, his best point-per-game average since 2018-19. With San Jose narrowly holding into the final Wild Card spot in the West, losing Karlsson for any notable period of time would make their playoff push a lot tougher.
More from the Pacific:
- Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler has cleared COVID protocol and is set to rejoin Anaheim on their road trip in Boston, relays Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). The activation means that Anaheim has just two players remaining that are in the protocol in goaltender Anthony Stolarz and defenseman Josh Manson. As for Fowler, he leads all Ducks defenders in ice time per game at just under 24 minutes a night while chipping in with 20 points in 39 contests so his return will certainly be a welcome one.
- After being listed as being out day-to-day with a non-COVID illness, Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol told reporters including Marisa Ingemi of the Seattle Times (Twitter link) that defenseman Jamie Oleksiak is now dealing with a lower-body injury. The 29-year-old is logging just shy of 20 minutes a night with the expansion squad while picking up a goal and ten assists in 37 games while tying for the team lead in hits with 105.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Buffalo Sabres
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2021-22 season and beyond. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Buffalo Sabres
Current Cap Hit: $69,244,521 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Dylan Cozens (two years, $894K)
F Peyton Krebs (three years, $863K)
Potential Bonuses
Cozens: $850K
Krebs: $412.5K
Total: $1.2625MM
While Cozens hasn’t been lighting it up in his sophomore season, he has taken some positive strides and has played his way into a bigger role. That said, it’s not the type of performance that is going to set him up for a long-term second contract and he’ll have some work to do in the second half if he wants a shot at hitting any of his ‘A’ bonuses. A bridge deal in the $3MM range looks like a possibility if his slow but steady development continues. Krebs was a key part of the Jack Eichel trade and his first handful of NHL games haven’t been great. That said, he still figures to be a key part of their long-term plans and with such a limited sample size to judge off of, it’s way too early to be able to reasonably forecast his next contract.
One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level
G Craig Anderson ($750K, UFA)
D Johnny Boychuk ($6MM, UFA)
D Jacob Bryson ($889K, RFA)
D Will Butcher ($2.823MM, UFA)*
F Drake Caggiula ($750K, UFA)
F Cody Eakin ($2.25MM, UFA)
D Robert Hagg ($1.6MM, UFA)
F John Hayden ($750K, UFA)
F Vinnie Hinostroza ($1.05MM, UFA)
D Colin Miller ($3.875MM, UFA)
F Victor Olofsson ($3.05MM, RFA)
D/F Mark Pysyk ($900K, UFA)
G Malcolm Subban ($850K, UFA)
G Dustin Tokarski ($725K, UFA)
*-New Jersey is retaining another $910K of Butcher’s contract.
Following Olofsson’s somewhat surprising rookie season two years ago, they opted for a bridge contract to see if it was a sign of things to come or just him getting hit at the right time. Today, there’s still some question about what he’ll be worth. He’s doing well enough to be qualified at $3.25MM which would be a small jump on his $3.05MM AAV but at the same time, GM Kevyn Adams may not be ready to commit to a long-term deal yet. As a result, a second bridge contract makes sense but with him being two years away from UFA eligibility, it’ll have to just be a one-year deal. He’s eligible for arbitration and if they were to look at a long-term pact that bought out some UFA years, something in the $5MM range may be required.
Eakin’s contract from a year ago came as a bit of a surprise after a quiet 2019-20 season and his value certainly hasn’t improved since then. He can still kill penalties and win faceoffs but the role he has is usually valued at closer to $1MM than $2MM. Hinostroza is getting a bigger opportunity with Buffalo than he had over the last few years and it was a wise decision as he’s hovering near the half-a-point-per-game mark, his best average since 2018-19. Has he done enough to show he’s worthy of a middle-six role on a better team, however? If yes, he could come close to doubling his price tag. If not, his raise for next season may be minimal. Hayden and Caggiula are low-cost role players and are likely to stay at or close to the league minimum on their next deals.
Boychuk was traded to Buffalo just before the Eichel trade to allow the Sabres to stay above the cap floor but his playing days are done. The addition of Butcher was an interesting one as it gave him a chance to rebuild his value. That hasn’t happened as he has largely been limited to a role on the third pairing when he has played. Still, his rookie season should give him a reasonable market as some will view him as a bounce-back candidate so he could come in around half of his $3.733MM AAV on his next contract.
Hagg is one of Buffalo’s more intriguing rental trade candidates over the next couple of months as a physical, stay-at-home defender that can upgrade a third pairing. There’s still a good market for those players so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him surpass the $2MM mark in the summer. Bryson isn’t putting up many points but the fact he’s averaging nearly 20 minutes a game will help since he’s arbitration-eligible this summer. A one-year deal should earn him somewhere around $1.5MM but a multi-year deal could be an option here around the $2MM AAV range. Pysyk has had to settle for one-year contracts the last two seasons and that will likely happen again although he, too, isn’t far off from 20 minutes a night which could push his value past the $1MM mark which would be an improvement on his last two deals.
None of Buffalo’s goaltenders are in a position to command much of a raise. Subban cleared waivers in training camp and has struggled in limited action this season which will have teams viewing him as a third-stringer over an NHL backup and will price him accordingly. Anderson settled for the minimum for this season and while he played well early, his injury situation offsets that. As for Tokarski, his AAV will go up by default since it’s below the minimum salary but he’s another goalie that’s more viewed as organizational depth than a full-fledged NHL regular. That will keep him around the minimum as well.
Two Years Remaining
F Rasmus Asplund ($825K, RFA)
F Anders Bjork ($1.6MM, RFA)
F Kyle Okposo ($6MM, UFA)
F Tage Thompson ($1.4MM, RFA)
F Zemgus Girgensons ($2.2MM, UFA)
Okposo is part of that ill-fated 2016 UFA class and he hasn’t lived up to that contract. That said, he’s very quietly having a pretty good season and has produced at a pace that would be close to his best year with Buffalo. It doesn’t mean he’s going to get a lot of interest two summers from now though. He’ll be looking at something closer to a quarter of his current rate unless this production sustains itself for the next season and a half. Girgensons just hasn’t been able to produce with enough consistency to justify an above-average contract for someone whose best suited to play on the fourth line. There was some hope of late-blooming upside before but he’ll be 29 at the end of this deal. If the improvement hasn’t come by then, it’s probably not coming at all.
As for the restricted free agents, Bjork wasn’t able to sustain his late-season uptick in points after being acquired from Boston. At this point, with a $1.8MM qualifying offer needed, he looks like a non-tender candidate with his UFA market value being around half of that number. Thompson, on the other hand, is on an upward trajectory. His offensive production has finally come around and his combination of size and skill make him a candidate for a long-term deal with how much teams are willing to spend in the hopes of keeping a power forward in the fold. As long as his scoring burst isn’t just a short-term thing, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he triples his $1.6MM qualifying offer. As for Asplund, he has provided a decent return on close to a league minimum salary this season. A similar showing in the second half of this season and next could put him in the $2MM range on his next deal. All three of these players are arbitration-eligible in 2023.
Three Years Remaining
D Rasmus Dahlin ($6MM, RFA)
D Henri Jokiharju ($2.5MM, RFA)
F Casey Mittelstadt ($2.5MM, RFA)
Mittelstadt hasn’t been able to stay healthy this season which makes it hard to make any early forecast on this contract. If he can secure a regular top-six role by then, that should at least have him in line to push beyond his $2.6MM qualifying offer in his final year of RFA eligibility. A long-term contract that buys out some UFA time could push him past the $4MM mark, more if his production is strong over the next two seasons.
The decision to bridge Dahlin made sense as the 2018 top pick hasn’t been able to become that elite number one defender just yet but was still showing some positive development signs. If he can get to that level by the end of this deal, he’d earn well beyond his $7.2MM qualifying offer and he’ll only have one RFA season remaining in 2024. The bridge buys them some time but at some point, a long-term pact will need to be worked out. Jokiharju has turned into a capable second-pairing player in Buffalo and should be a useful secondary piece of their long-term future core. That should have him pushing for more than $4MM on his next contract if he can pick up his production as this deal goes on. Again, he’ll only have the one RFA year left at this time.
Oilers Have Shown Interest In Joonas Korpisalo
With Mike Smith injured once again, Mikko Koskinen struggling, and the Oilers in a tailspin at the moment, they’re on the lookout to try to shore up their goaltending. To that end, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported in the latest TSN Insider Trading segment that Edmonton has kicked the tires on Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo.
With Elvis Merzlikins inking a five-year, $27MM contract extension at the start of the season, he cemented himself as the starter of the present and future in Columbus, basically making Korpisalo expendable. The 27-year-old is also on an expiring contract with a $2.8MM AAV and while Edmonton’s salary cap situation doesn’t exactly give them much in the way of flexibility, some retention and some good fortune on the injury front could make a move doable.
Prior to this season, Korpisalo’s track record had been decent with a .905 SV% and a 2.90 GAA over his first six NHL campaigns. Those aren’t numbers that scream a sizable upgrade but mediocrity would still be an upgrade on what Edmonton has had at times over the past few years, Smith’s strong 2020-21 campaign notwithstanding.
However, this season has been another story. Korpisalo has a 3.95 GAA and a .882 SV% in 14 games, the worst numbers of his career by a significant margin. Edmonton’s goaltending has struggled this season but the trio of Smith, Koskinen, and youngster Stuart Skinner have done better than that. In that sense, there’s some question on how much he’d move the needle for the Oilers and whether or not that’s the best use of their very limited cap room.
While Edmonton needs a longer-term upgrade, affording one with their cap situation would be a significant challenge. Even a higher-end rental starter would be tricky with the Oilers in a money-in, money-out situation and the fact that few are available; TSN’s Darren Dreger noted in the same segment that Chicago’s Marc-Andre Fleury wouldn’t be a great fit for that reason.
In the end, all that GM Ken Holland may be able to afford is a nominal improvement at best and when you factor in Korpisalo’s track record, that’s about all he’d be. While there wouldn’t be a ton of upside with such a move, he’d at least give them some insurance between the pipes and with Holland not being interested in moving top young assets, this would be a move that could be made without moving those future pieces. With Edmonton not in a position to accrue cap space since they’re well into LTIR, it’s also a move that they wouldn’t have to necessarily wait until closer to the trade deadline to try to make and with the Oilers struggling, Holland may be forced to try to do something sooner than later.
2021 Year In Review: December
2021 was certainly another eventful year, both on and off the rink. Over the past few weeks, we’ve taken a look back at the top stories from around the game on a month-by-month basis. We wrap things up with a look at December.
Changes In Vancouver: After a disappointing start to their season, the Canucks opted to clean house. Head coach Travis Green was let go with veteran bench boss Bruce Boudreau taking over. The hope was the change would give them a spark and it’s fair to say it did as they’re 10-3-1 since then. Meanwhile, GM Jim Benning was also fired with Jim Rutherford joining Vancouver soon after. However, he’s not in his usual GM role but is instead president of hockey operations. Their search for Benning’s permanent replacement continues.
Fabbri Sticks Around: Red Wings winger Robby Fabbri could have been an intriguing trade candidate closer to the trade deadline as a rental player. Instead, he’s off the market after inking a three-year, $12MM contract extension. After struggling towards the end of his time with St. Louis, Fabbri has become a reliable secondary scorer for Detroit, reaching the double-digit goal mark in his first three seasons with the team and has a shot at hitting the 20-goal plateau this season, a target he has never reached.
Bishop’s Career Ends: After missing all of last season due to knee trouble, Stars goaltender Ben Bishop was hoping to return this year. He practiced regularly with Dallas at the start of the season and got to the point where he was ready to test things out on a conditioning stint in the minors. Unfortunately, that didn’t go well and soon after, it was revealed that Bishop’s playing days have come to an end as he’ll remain on LTIR for the duration of his contract which runs through next season. His playing days end with 413 games played for five different teams while he was a three-time Vezina Trophy finalist and posted a 2.32 GAA along with a save percentage of .921 and 33 shutouts.
Coaching News: Vancouver wasn’t the only team to change coaches as the Flyers parted ways with veteran bench boss Alain Vigneault and assistant Michel Therrien after a slow start to their season. Mike Yeo, who had been serving as an assistant, has taken over on an interim basis. The Jets also made a coaching change although it was one initiated by Paul Maurice who surprisingly resigned partway through his ninth season with the team. He had been the second-longest tenured coach in the NHL prior to his decision, one that was made as he felt a new voice was needed and that he had led Winnipeg as far as he could. On the other end of the spectrum, Minnesota has been quite pleased with Dean Evason’s performance as head coach and he was rewarded for his efforts with a multi-year contract extension. Now in his third season in that role, the Wild have played to a 65-30-8 record under his tutelage so far.
Out Of Olympics: The enthusiasm for NHL players going to the Olympics was short-lived when the league jointly announced with the NHLPA that they were officially withdrawing from Olympic participation. The announcement came as little surprise as a result of the league having to postpone so many games due to COVID-19 positive tests and attendance restrictions so the drought of a true best-on-best tournament continues.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.