On Monday, the NHL announced the postponement of seven additional games as the New Jersey Devils, Minnesota Wild and Buffalo Sabres deal with the league’s COVID-19 Protocols. Buffalo and New Jersey last played Jan. 31 against each other, and Minnesota hasn’t played since Feb. 2. The new postponements include Buffalo’s games against the Washington Capitals on Thursday and Saturday, New Jersey’s games with the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins and the Wild’s contests against the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings, all of which are also scheduled for those days. The Sabres and Wild each have nine players on the league’s COVID-19 list. The Devils have 16 players affected.
The league made several changes to health and safety protocols. In an effort to improve airflow, glass behind benches was removed and teams were told to make more space in dressing rooms, while coaches and players could not enter the arena until 1 hour and 45 minutes prior to the game.
Editorial credit: kovop58 / Shutterstock.com