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:
The NHL announced a number of schedule updates Saturday amid the recent postponement of games due to its COVID-19 protocols.
Details ⤵️https://t.co/WZ9IZ3hX0q
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 6, 2021
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.
New fans and the road forward.
Our inaugural episode of Barrier Breakers dives into the sisterhood – and impact – of @BlackGirlHockey, and their commitment to eradicate racism from hockey. pic.twitter.com/YA4hfpvbet
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 9, 2021
The Maple Leafs are proud to have joined the @BlackGirlHockey: Get Uncomfortable campaign pledge and encourage fans everywhere to make hockey welcoming for everyone.
Find the pledge ➡️ https://t.co/K9TraImcwu https://t.co/4O4K7wKwWO
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 9, 2021
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:
Sheldon Keefe says the Maple Leafs are now using three or four different dressing rooms to keep players spread apart.
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) February 10, 2021
And finally, look Ma, we made TMZ again!
NHL’s Nils Hoglander Takes Slapshot To Face, Blood Everywhere! https://t.co/dfo0biEsdJ
— TMZ (@TMZ) February 9, 2021
Another Leafs moment on the most popular Hollywood gossip site. What is going on??
News and Notes
Some quick hits from around the league for you.
The Penguins have made some changes in their front office:
The Penguins have named Ron Hextall as general manager and Brian Burke as president of hockey operations.
Full details: https://t.co/gBGqDIMMql pic.twitter.com/0pzDJvwynH
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 9, 2021
Which means no more Brian Burke on our televisions.
Mikko Koivu made a sudden and surprising retirement announcement:
Breaking: Mikko Koivu has announced his retirement. #CBJ
— Mark Scheig (@markscheig) February 9, 2021
Mikko Koivu’s statement. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/A4sIy185pm
— Mark Scheig (@markscheig) February 9, 2021
Quinn Hughes raised some eyebrows apparently, with a bold but honest statement after yet another Canucks loss:
.@FriedgeHNIC: It’s gone so sideways that I don’t know where to start. The Quinn Hughes comment last night was a whopper. I had people from other teams sending me that quote asking if it was accurate or misquoted. That one caught the eye of people.
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) February 10, 2021
“We have a lot of new pieces, we lost a lot of players from last year.”
-Quinn Hughes
— 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀 Faber 🔥🎙 (@ChrisFaber39) February 9, 2021
And, of course, Patrik Laine is having an interesting adjustment to life in Columbus:
As John Tortorella said after the game, Patrik Laine was not benched for his play. A source told @DispatchAlerts that Laine ‘mouthed off’ to a #CBJ assistant coach ->
Tortorella benched Laine for off-ice interaction with assistant https://t.co/QFj43RvXoi via @DispatchAlerts
— Brian Hedger (@BrianHedger) February 10, 2021
We’re glad to see the King feeling better, and here’s an update from Henrik Lundqvist himself to make you smile:
🚨🚨🚨Breaking News: #AllCaps #NYR Henrik Lundqvist gives us a update on his surgery. Glad to see he’s doing well, the game definitely misses him. pic.twitter.com/igMsDzmlUZ
— Hockey Hound (@HockeyHoundShow) February 3, 2021
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.
Here’s the full statement announced on the air at TSN 1040 this morning before sports programming abruptly cut to music. pic.twitter.com/ZyZPLpJ3PE
— Emad Agahi (@emadagahi) February 10, 2021
That’s all for this week, folks! Stay safe!
