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AHL, PHPA Ratify CBA Amendments

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The AHL and Professional Hockey Players’ Association, union for minor league players, have announced the ratification of modified terms of the CBA for the 2020-21 season. The agreement allows the upcoming AHL season to move forward. League president Scott Howson released a statement:

We are very pleased that the players and the member clubs of the AHL have come together to find a solution for playing the 2020-21 season during these difficult times. We remain committed to the health and safety of our players, coaches, officials and fans, as well as everyone else who will be contributing to our league this season.

Very basically, this agreement will make an AHL season possible, but it doesn’t come without some controversy. Sean Shapiro of The Athletic reported last week that many AHL players felt very unhappy with the options in front of them and eventually agreed to protect the overall financial health of union members. If it was turned down and a season was not held, it would be the players on AHL-only deals that would take the brunt of the losses. Some players told Shapiro that they believed the AHL delay was a negotiating tactic to get better terms.

Still, for hockey fans at least, this is good news. The AHL is set to kick off their season on February 5, meaning prospects and veterans alike will get back on the ice and continue their careers. The first game of the season will be between the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Providence Bruins, scheduled for 1pm EST on Friday afternoon. The league has still not announced a schedule for the North Division as they continue to work with provincial health officials in Canada.

AHL’s Stockton Heat To Play 2020-21 Season In Calgary

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Jan 28: The AHL has officially announced the move to Calgary, where the Heat will join in the Canadian Division for 2020-21. A revised schedule will be released in the coming days.

Jan 25: In a surprising move, especially given the AHL’s return to action in less than two weeks, the Stockton Heat will not be playing in Stockton in 2021. Scott Linesburgh of The Stockton Record writes this evening that city and county officials have confirmed that the club does not intend to play out of their home city this season. Instead, the Calgary Flames’ affiliate is expected to share a home with their parent club. Linesburgh reports that this is likely just a one-year change related to the Coronavirus pandemic and cross-border logistics, though he does note that this was the final year on the Heat’s current lease at Stockton Arena.

This move will have quite the ripple effect on the AHL just ten days away from the planned start to the season. Stockton’s move north of the border, and the impossibility at this time of playing American opponents as a result, means that the AHL will have to realign on the fly once again. The Heat will be placed in the Canadian Division alongside the Belleville Senators, Laval Rocket, Manitoba Moose, and Toronto Marlies. This will mean that the Pacific Division will drop to six teams this season and the schedule, which was already released on Friday, will need to be amended. The Heat leave behind a 40-game schedule against the numerous AHL clubs in the American Southwest for an unknown slate in the Canadian Division, which has yet to release a schedule and features only one team within 1,600 miles of Calgary.

Of course, for the Flames’ purposes this means a much simpler strategy for moving players to and from the minors this season. Players who cross the border into Canada this season require a mandatory 14-day quarantine period. While the taxi squad has been implemented to offer a small group of stand-ins, any other additions for Calgary from Stockton would have left those players out of commission for two weeks. Now the team will require no wait time at all with their AHL squad expected to be sharing a facility.

The Heat’s move leaves the Edmonton Oilers as the only Canadian NHL team whose AHL affiliate remains in the U.S. or who hasn’t otherwise negotiated an agreement to send players to another AHL team in Canada, such as the Vancouver Canucks’ and Manitoba Moose’ relationship. If the Oilers plan to make such a move, they have limited time before the AHL season begins.

Sharks Set To Return To San Jose In February

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The San Jose Sharks will soon be back home at the SAP Center. Due to a ban on contact sports in Santa Clara County, the Sharks held training camp in Glendale, Arizona. The team has since played on the road and will be the “home” team in Glendale for games against the Vegas Golden Knights on February 1st and 3rd. However, the Sharks have announced that with the ban lifted back in San Jose, they have begun planning and implementing health and safety measures in preparation for a return home. The Sharks plan to make their true home debut on February 13 against the Anaheim Ducks.

The plan is for all future Sharks (and AHL Barracuda) home games beyond the upcoming Glendale series to take place in San Jose. However, the team will be on a short leash. Curtis Pashelka of The San Jose Mercury News writes that Santa Clara County has already vowed that “Any professional athletics organization that violates the order shall be immediately and automatically suspended from engaging in athletic activities.” The Sharks must abide by the NHL’s COVID Protocol anyhow, but rather than only face a league fine and players and/or coaches out of commission, the team may actually lose their home again if they do not follow local guidelines as well.

For now, the team is focused on their upcoming “home” games in Glendale. The Sharks’ players may arguably be more excited for these games than they are for their return to San Jose. Included in the team’s release today was that they have received permission to have limited attendance during the two-game series. Given the much stricter COVID climate in California, these may be the only games that the Sharks play in front of fans all year. Of course, Pashelka notes that only 2,500 tickets are expected to be sold for each game and sales are limited to Arizona citizens only, but there are sure to be some local Sharks fans in attendance.

NHL Postpones Another Carolina Hurricanes Game

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The NHL has decided to postpone another Carolina Hurricanes game, moving tomorrow’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning to next month. The Hurricanes are still dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19 and have now had four games postponed. The league also announced the rescheduling of seven games, including those already missed between the Hurricanes and Florida Panthers. As a result, the Panthers, who also had games rescheduled at the beginning of the season thanks to an outbreak on the Dallas Stars, now have 54 games scheduled in the next 102 days.

The changes are as follows:

Game #52, Carolina at Nashville, originally scheduled for Jan. 19, is now scheduled for Tuesday, March 2 at 8 p.m. ET

Game #62, Florida at Carolina, originally scheduled for Jan. 21, is now scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 5 p.m. ET

Game #76, Florida at Carolina, originally scheduled for Jan. 23, is now scheduled for Sunday, March 7 at 5 p.m.  ET

Game #97, Tampa Bay at Carolina, originally scheduled for Jan. 26, is now scheduled for Monday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. ET

Game #255, Columbus at Carolina, originally scheduled for Feb. 16, is now scheduled for Monday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. ET

Game #256, Florida at Tampa Bay, originally scheduled for Feb. 16, is now scheduled for Monday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. ET

Game #296, Carolina at Tampa Bay, originally scheduled for Feb. 22, is now scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. ET

Sharks To Play Two Home Games In Arizona

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As a result of the ban on contact sports in Santa Clara County, the Sharks held their training camp in Arizona and were given an eight-game road trip to start the season in the hopes that there would be more clarity on whether or not they’d be able to return home by then.  That isn’t the case as the team announced that they will host their first two ’home’ games against Vegas in Glendale where the Coyotes play.  Team president Jonathan Beecher released the following statement about their hopes to return to San Jose soon:

We feel that we have put significant precautions in place, including daily COVID-19 testing of the athletes and support staff, to allow for us to safely return to play games at SAP Center, while not exposing the community to any additional health risk.  In our discussions with County officials over the past several months, we have shared our detailed return-to-play plans and are hopeful that we can find practical solutions to this difficult situation very soon.

Following this two-game set, the Sharks are back on the road for four more games with their next home games coming February 13th and 15th.  Accordingly, the team hasn’t made a decision yet on their plans for those contests.  The Coyotes also have home games those days so if San Jose is unable to return home by then, there will likely be some changes to their schedule coming over the next couple of weeks.

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 01/20/21

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Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 protocol. Other than the Montreal Canadiens, listed as TBA, and the Dallas Stars, the other 29 teams are covered on today’s list:

Carolina – Warren Foegele, Jordan Martinook, Jaccob Slavin, Jordan Staal, Teuvo Teravainen
Columbus – Mikko Koivu
Detroit – Adam Erne, Robby Fabbri
Florida – Juho Lammikko
Minnesota Wild – Alex Stalock
Nashville – Mikael Granlund
New Jersey – Jesper Bratt*
NY Islanders – Josh Bailey*
Philadelphia – Shayne Gostisbehere
Tampa Bay –  Curtis McElhinney
Washington Capitals – Evgeny Kuznetsov*, Dmitry Orlov*, Alex Ovechkin*, Ilya Samsonov*
Winnipeg – Anton Forsberg, Tucker Poolman

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Players removed today: Eric Comrie, New Jersey Devils; Blake Coleman, Tampa Bay Lightning.

As for the missing teams, the Canadiens are on the road in Vancouver and have until 5:00pm local time to report, but are not expected to have any players in the protocol. As has been the case so far this season, the league declined to identify anyone from Dallas and will hold off on doing so until they are able to play in their first game, now scheduled for January 22. They had a significant outbreak early in camp as 17 of the 27 players that tested positive in training camp were from the Stars.

*denotes new addition

Carolina-Nashville Game Postponed

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The Dallas Stars are still waiting to start their season thanks to a COVID-19 outbreak in training camp and now another game will be postponed thanks to the protocols. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that the Carolina-Nashville game scheduled for this evening will be postponed because of a coronavirus situation with the Hurricanes. The league has released a short statement explaining the decision:

The National Hockey League today announced that Game #52, Carolina Hurricanes at Nashville Predators, scheduled for tonight, has been postponed. The rescheduled date of Game #52 will be announced when available.

The decision was made out of an abundance of caution to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel and in consultation with medical experts.

Jordan Staal has been on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list for the last two games, though it’s not clear if that is related to this latest situation. Sara Civian of The Athletic tweets that Hurricanes GM Don Waddell told her three players have tested positive for COVID-19, but that one is a false positive.

Important to note that the Florida Panthers, who already had two games postponed at the beginning of the season thanks to the Stars outbreak, were supposed to visit Carolina to take on the Hurricanes twice starting Thursday. It’s not clear if those games are in danger at this point. The Tampa Bay Lightning, the other team affected by the Stars situation, were supposed to be in Carolina next Tuesday for the first of two games.

The Hurricanes played last night against the Predators in Nashville.

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 01/18/21

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Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 protocol. The early game between Detroit and Columbus has a few players held out, but the full list will be updated later this evening:

Carolina – Jordan Staal
Columbus – Mikko Koivu
Detroit – Adam Erne*, Robby Fabbri*
Florida – Juho Lammikko*, Markus Nutivaara*
Minnesota – Alex Stalock
Nashville – Mikael Granlund
New Jersey – Eric Comrie
Philadelphia – Shayne Gostisbehere
Tampa Bay – Blake Coleman*, Curtis McElhinney
Vancouver – Jordie Benn
Winnipeg – Anton Forsberg, Tucker Poolman

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

The big newcomer is Coleman, who has played two games for the Tampa Bay Lightning this season but now appears on the list alongside McElhinney. The Lightning don’t play until Thursday because of the rescheduled games against Dallas, so Coleman will be one to keep an eye on this week.

As has been the case so far this season, the league declined to identify anyone from Dallas and will hold off on doing so until they are able to play in their first game, now scheduled for January 22. They had a significant outbreak early in camp as 17 of the 27 players that tested positive in training camp were from the Stars.

*denotes new addition

COVID Notes: Kapanen, Granlund, Gulls-Reign

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Pittsburgh Penguins off-season re-acquisition Kasperi Kapanen has not yet been on the ice with his teammates, but his return is imminent. Kapanen was removed from the NHL’s COVID Protocol on Friday but was still held out of practice on Saturday. However, Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports that Kapanen took his fourth COVID test today and a fourth negative result will make it his final test. He will be able to re-join the team immediately, with head coach Mike Sullivan stating that they will have him in uniform as quickly as they can once that test result is received. Kapanen, 24, recorded 80 points combined over the past two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs and is expected to skate with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel on the Penguins’ top line.

  • Mikael Granlund remains on the NHL’s COVID Protocol list for the Nashville Predators, but progress is being made toward getting him on the ice. Granlund’s return to Nashville was initially delayed due to immigration issues that caused him to miss all of training camp. According to The Athletic’s Adam Vingan, he has now arrived in Nashville and has begun the mandated quarantine following commercial travel. At no point has Granlund tested positive for Coronavirus and he should be eligible to return to the lineup as soon as his quarantine ends. Head coach John Hynes has stated that he expects Granlund to return to a top-six role for the Predators after he recorded 30 points in 63 games last season, more than half of which came after Hynes took over.
  • The San Diego Gulls and Ontario Reign, AHL affiliates of the Anaheim Ducks and L.A. Kings respectively, had intended to begin their preseason tonight with an exhibition game in Irvine, California. However, that game has been canceled due to precautions related to Coronavirus and in adherence with local health protocols. The two teams are scheduled to play on Sunday as well, but no determination has been made on that game yet.

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 01/16/21

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Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 protocol.  Today’s list is as follows:

Carolina – Jordan Staal
Columbus – Mikko Koivu
Detroit – Christian Djoos
Minnesota – Alex Stalock
Nashville – Mikael Granlund
New Jersey – Eric Comrie
Philadelphia – Shayne Gostisbehere
Tampa Bay – Curtis McElhinney*
Vancouver – Jordie Benn; J.T. Miller
Winnipeg – Anton Forsberg; Tucker Poolman*

*denotes new addition

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

As has been the case so far this season, the league declined to identify anyone from Dallas and will hold off on doing so until they are able to play in their first game, now scheduled for January 22. They had a significant outbreak early in camp as 17 of the 27 players that tested positive in training camp were from the Stars.

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