Well, it’s been a week of games marked PPD and news around the league of more players and personnel added to COVID protocol lists, which is Not Great. So far, the Canadian division has been the least impacted by COVID, and hopefully for everyone’s health and safety that continues. There’s some speculation about how standings will be calculated should it get to the point where teams are unable to reschedule or make up missed games, with points percentage becoming more important than usual. In the meantime, a number of schedule changes were announced in the other divisions:
Unfortunately, much of the news around the league this week has been related to COVID, but there are a couple other noteworthy items to touch on! Let’s dive in.
Leafs Lads
The Maple Leafs announced an historic endeavor yesterday, timed well considering it’s Black History Month.
The Leafs have become the first Original Six team to take the pledge and partner with Black Girl Hockey Club on their campaign to end racism in hockey and commit to promoting inclusion and diversity! This is an amazing step and we’re thrilled the Leafs have made this commitment.
The Leafs are also committing to maintaining and upholding the highest COVID standards possible, announcing additional measures today to keep players safe:
And finally, look Ma, we made TMZ again!
Another Leafs moment on the most popular Hollywood gossip site. What is going on??
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News and Notes
Some quick hits from around the league for you.
The Penguins have made some changes in their front office:
Which means no more Brian Burke on our televisions.
@Mikko Koivu made a sudden and surprising retirement announcement:
@Quinn Hughes raised some eyebrows apparently, with a bold but honest statement after yet another Canucks loss:
And, of course, @Patrik Laine is having an interesting adjustment to life in Columbus:
We’re glad to see the King feeling better, and here’s an update from @Henrik Lundqvist himself to make you smile:
Dark Day in Hockey Broadcasting
We end off with acknowledging the sadness of yesterday, when Bell made very sudden and very surprising sweeping cuts to their hockey programming across Canada. Aside from the shocking loss of available hockey media for fans to consume, many people are now suddenly without jobs. Word around is that this was done suddenly and without giving time for people to process or even finish out their work day. The repercussions of this will be felt for a while.
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That’s all for this week, folks! Stay safe!