Well, it was concerning this morning when the Buffalo Sabres game was postponed due to Covid-19 concerns. Now, that concern has escalated to reality.
The NHL announced that all Sabres games through February 8th have been postponed. That means that both Islanders games and the upcoming series with the Boston Bruins will need to be rescheduled.
Here is the official announcement from the league:
Schedule Update: @BuffaloSabres games postponed at least through February 8. https://t.co/LLL0Xq290K pic.twitter.com/yQ8NdDfQAr
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 2, 2021
The two players that have been added to the NHL’s Covid list are Taylor Hall and Rasmus Ristolainen. We’ll see if any more players are added in the coming days as this situation develops.
This situation arises from the outbreak that the New Jersey Devils are going through. The league clearly made an error allowing those games to take place over the weekend. The list of Devils players now in the Covid protocol is up to 14.
New Jersey now has 14 players in COVID Protocols list: Jesper Bratt; Connor Carrick; Aaron Dell; Jack Hughes; Andreas Johnsson; Janne Kuokkanen; Michael McLeod; Kyle Palmieri; Damon Severson; Ty Smith; Matt Tennyson; Sami Vatanen; Pavel Zacha; Travis Zajac
— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) February 2, 2021
Multiple reports have indicated that the Sabres are livid with the NHL league for not postponing the games over the weekend. Now, we sit and wait for the next few days to see if the Sabres are going to have an outbreak on their hands or it’s only contained to these two players.
Update: Tobias Rieder and Brandon Montour were added to the NHL’s Covid protocol list (2/3).
Update: Jake McCabe was added to the NHL’s Covid protocol list (2/4).
Update: Dylan Cozens and Curtis Lazar were added to the NHL Covid protocol list (2/6).
Update: Casey Mittelstadt has been added the NHL Covid protocol (2/7).
Update: Rasmus Dahlin has been added to the NHL Covid protocol. (2/8).