— Winnipeg Jets PR (@WpgJetsPR) December 17, 2021
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect the postponement of the weekend games for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks. There will be more postponements to come.
We vow to keep our NHL coverage to a monthly update yet held the door open for breaking news. This was a week full of NHL news involving Canadian teams. Most of this is related to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. We start with a non-COVID-19 story.
The Winnipeg Jets have an interim head coach in Dave Lowry. Paul Maurice, the dean of coaches on NHL Canadian teams by several kilometres, resigned. No scandal, no firing: the players need a different voice. Wow is a legitimate response.
Maurice, who started in his role in 2014, had the second-longest tenure among current NHL coaches, second to Jon Cooper in Tampa.
In a year where the Winnipeg Jets almost lost general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, the resignation is a bit of surprise.
I’m told the @NHLFlames @Avalanche and @FlaPanthers scheduled games will be postponed through the Christmas /Holiday break. @espn @NHLNetwork @NHL #HockeyTwitter
— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) December 17, 2021
The Calgary Flames have had multiple postponed games due to COVID-19 protocols. So far, the Flames temporarily lost road games in Chicago (13) and Nashville (14) as well as home games against Toronto (16) and Columbus (18).
We heard on Friday afternoon that the Flames are done through the holiday break with Calgary home games with Anaheim (21) and Seattle (23) being postponed.
The Flames don't have enough healthy players to be on the ice at one time, much less field a team.
The Chicago game was a national game for Rogers Sportsnet (HH) and NHL Network as that was the only NHL game on the schedule.
Ottawa Senators still have 2 games to make up from its COVID-19 postponements with . There could be another postponement with Boston scheduled to be in Ottawa on Sunday.
Definitely check back with our monthly previews for schedule updates.
It's going to be absolutely surreal when Canadian NHL teams are playing in empty arenas, while the Panthers and Lightning are adding seats so fans can attend "Sneeze On Each Other Night, presented by Kleenex."
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) December 16, 2021
The Montréal Canadiens were asked to shut the doors completely to fans with Philadelphia (16) in town with about 2 hours before tipoff. This request came from the Quebec government. Montréal had a capacity decision of the Boston game (18) but the Bruins COVID-19 issues made that moot since the game was postponed. There will be 50% capacity at the Bell Centre come January. The Habs are on the road for the rest of 2021.
Hockey Night in Canada originally had 5 games on Saturday night. As of this moment, there are only 32 games.
Things got bad enough with COVID-19 in Ontario that the province cut capacity in half as of early this morning. This primarily affected the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, and the NBA Toronto Raptors as well as minor league hockey in the province.
The Ontario restrictions also mean no concessions.
#Vancouver #Canucks get two more home games before Dr. Bonnie Henry's public-gathering restrictions kick in https://t.co/MXxEbh3aN6 via @georgiastraight #bonniehenry #drhenry #covid19 #Omicron #NHL
— Charlie Smith (@charliesmithvcr) December 17, 2021
British Columbia has put the Vancouver Canucks in the same boat with 50% arena capacity starting next week until at least the end of January. The Vancouver home games with Toronto (18) and Arizona (19) will be at full capacity.
Manitoba is going the same route, waiting until December 21 to go to 50% and setting a date of January 11 to come out of the capacity reduction for the Winnipeg Jets.
Alberta is the only province without a plan to reduce capacity. The province has, to be kind, a different approach to COVID-19. Any capacity reduction would also affect the World Juniors tournament in Edmonton and Red Deer that starts on Boxing Day and runs through January 5.
No U.S. NHL team has any such restrictions.
While this is more about indoor spaces than outdoor spaces, the timing was fortuitous to the CFL since its season ended 6 days before the Ontario changes. A Grey Cup crowd of 13,162 (half of 26,324) would have been difficult to figure out who wouldn't have gone to the big game.
An update on the Rogers Hometown Hockey Festival – December 16, 2021 pic.twitter.com/YvN1Vy5JNF
— Rogers Hometown Hockey (@hometownhockey_) December 16, 2021
Rogers Sportsnet will still have Hometown Hockey episodes but from the Toronto studios and not traveling on the road. While the gatherings are outdoors, they are seen as a risk. The end of January essentially means no trips until after the Olympics at least for now.
They were supposed to be in Gander, NL when the announcement was made and Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, ON in the first weekend of January.
Hometown Hockey pulled out of Sudbury, ON earlier in the season.
NHL the month in preview December 2021
NHL the month in preview November 2021
NHL the month in preview October 2021
Edmonton Oilers coach Dave Tippett and players Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Duncan Keith were among many placed in COVID-19 protocols. The Toronto Maple Leafs had their first 2 players added to the COVID-19 protocols list: captain John Tavares and Alexander Kerfoot followed by Wayne Simmonds and Jason Spezza. Spezza just got his 6-game suspension, which should have been 4 games, reduced to 4 games.
Bruce Boudreau is perfect as the new Vancouver Canucks coach after the team cleaned house. Boudreau is 6-0 since replacing Travis Green. Green and general manager Jim Benning were dismissed earlier this month.
Tracking the NHL 2021 media changes
The Toronto at Vancouver game tonight was originally supposed to be only on Rogers Sportsnet. The game in now on CBC. Sportsnet will occasionally keep the Maple Leafs on Sportsnet on a Saturday night to encourage more subscriptions to Sportsnet NOW for cord cutters.
This pattern, which we saw last season, is expected to be reflected at times in 2022. This also may change, like we have for tonight.
This isn't an endorsement that the Toronto Maple Leafs should always be on CBC. We don't like rewarding insensitive greed.
The NHL Network will carry the game in the United States since the Montréal game was postponed.
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
The holiday break of December 24-26 will help a number of times catch up with COVID-19 outbreaks among teams on both sides of the border.
We will have a NHL update on January 1. A reminder that we do update the previous NHL months in preview as conditions warrant.
The Canadian winter will be a rough time with this new COVID-19 variant. Stay safe, get vaccinated and boosted. The new Omicron variant has definitely made its mark in Canada, sports and in real life.
Twitter captures: @WpgJetsPR; @KevinWeekes; @wyshynski; @charliesmithvcr; @hometownhockey_
photo credit: NHL
Comments