The NHL is extending the postponements for the Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild and New Jersey Devils as those teams recover from COVID-19 outbreaks among players.
The league announced Monday that two additional Sabres games (Feb. 11 and Feb. 13 against the Capitals); three more Devils games (Feb. 11 and Feb. 13 against the Flyers, and Feb. 15 vs. the Bruins) and two Wild games (Feb. 11 vs. the Blues and Feb. 13 vs. the Kings) have been postponed because of COVID-19 protocols.
The Sabres had originally been postponed through at least Feb. Monday, the Wild through at least Tuesday and the Devils through at least this past Saturday. A decision on the three teams’ resumption of practice and game play will be made by medical groups from the NHL, NHLPA and teams in the coming days.
As of Sunday’s league COVID-19 protocol-related absences report, the Sabres had nine players listed, while the Devils had 16 players and the Wild had nine.
The Avalanche, who had three players on the list, have their games on hold through at least Thursday as well.
Wild general manager Bill Guerin said there had been a plan to return his team to the ice, but that additional positive cases meant more time away from the rink.
“I think we’d be better off just taking the extra time and making sure our guys here are healthy. If we have to wait a few more days, we have to wait a few more days,” he said on Monday. “I don’t think this is something that we kinda want to cram a round peg into a square hole. Let’s just wait it out and be patient and do the right thing and we’ll be OK in the end.”
The NHL has postponed 33 games since the season started on Jan. 13. There are 15 games that have yet to be rescheduled.