NHL Postpones Games in Canada Over Attendance Restrictions

The National Hockey League has announced the postponement of a number of games in Canada, due to restrictions on live event attendance put in place by provincial authorities.

“The National Hockey League announced today that due to current attendance restrictions in certain Canadian cities, eight additional games will be rescheduled for dates later in the season when such restrictions may be eased or lifted,” read the statement posted by the league’s public relations office on December 31.

Impacted contests involved home games for the Ottawa Senators, Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and Winnipeg Jets. A New York Islanders at Seattle Kraken game was also postponed, due to other games on New York’s road trip being wiped out. The games range from Monday, January 3 through Sunday, January 16.

Monday, Jan. 3
Minnesota @ Ottawa

Wednesday, Jan. 5
New York Islanders @ Vancouver

Saturday, Jan. 8
New York Islanders @ Edmonton

Tuesday, Jan. 11
New York Islanders @ Calgary

Wednesday, Jan. 12
Minnesota @ Edmonton

Friday, Jan. 14
Vegas @ Edmonton

Saturday, Jan. 15
Vegas @ Calgary

Sunday, Jan. 16
Edmonton @ Winnipeg

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced that the franchise would be “operating without any sold tickets” effective December 31, with expectations that the playing without fans would last for three weeks.

Statement from MLSE and the Toronto Maple Leafs following the provincial announcement today: pic.twitter.com/MDpKmOsJzq

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 31, 2021

Montreal’s Canadians have been on their own full pause since January 1, with no activities scheduled through January 6. The team’s games on January 4, 6, 8, and 10 have all been postponed.

“Given all the new positive cases arising daily, and for the health of our players and staff, we feel that pausing our activities is necessary at this time. This pause will give our players the time they need to recover so that we can continue the season safely,” said Canadiens Executive Vice President, Hockey Operations, Jeff Gorton.

The entire NHL had previously been put on pause around the Christmas holiday, in hopes that the halt would allow teams and players sidelined by positive tests to return to action. In total, over 90 games have been impacted by the spiking case numbers across North America.