Deep Blue Sea: COVID concerns continue in NHL

Photo by Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty ImagesFour NHL games were postponed for Dec. 18 (Florida Panthers at Minnesota Wild, Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning at Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets at Calgary Flames) and the list of players added to the league’s COVID-19 Protocol grows every hour.

It’s a conflagration of factors that are contributing to the postponements; a highly transmissible COVID variant, the perfect virus-spreading environment one the ice (cold and in close quarters), salary cap restrictions and a lack of taxi squads. Shutting down the league isn’t necessarily feasible, so the NHL will have to figure out a way to proceed with the season…