After two Montreal Canadiens players–Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia–entered the NHL’s COVID Protocols yesterday, the league decided to postpone their match against the Edmonton Oilers. Now, the league has shut the Canadiens down through March 28, postponing three more games in the process. The team was set to face the Oilers tomorrow and Friday, then take on the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night. Now, the league is hoping that Montreal can reopen its training facilities next Monday, March 29.
These are the first postponements the North Division has experienced this season and will certainly complicate the schedule for Montreal down the stretch. The team has already had their big breaks and plays basically every other day through the end of the season. There is a small window in early May between games that could be used to fit in some matches, but it seems much more likely that the Canadiens will have their schedule extended if all 56 games are going to fit in before the postseason begins. The NHL built in some time between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs for exactly this reason, but the closer it gets to the end the harder it is to reschedule games that are missed for whatever reason.
Already the Canadiens had played the fewest games in the North Division, meaning their shutdown is basically a worst-case scenario for the NHL. Hopefully, things will be able to get back to normal next week and they won’t miss any more time.
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