The NHL announced a whole bunch of news for the next year on Monday, including the slate of outdoor games for the 2017-18 season. Usually this is a time to mock the Chicago Blackhawks’ annual appearance enjoying the open air, but something miraculous has happened: the Blackhawks aren’t playing outdoors in 2018.
It’s true.*
This is a big development, especially for merchandise distributors in the Chicago area that thrive on selling six different editions of Blackhawks jerseys every year. The Blackhawks have played an outdoor game each of the past four years, the longest streak of any team in the league.