NHL suspends all games until December 27 due to COVID outbreak

The NHL has paused it’s season to deal with the large number of coronavirus cases in the league. Around 15% of the players in the biggest hockey league in the world have tested positive for the virus, due to the recent outbreak. 

The league has announced that operations will be closed from Wednesday, 22 December and will resume after Christmas, on December 27. 

What has the NHL said about their decision to suspend games? 

“Under the revised schedule,” the league announced, “Dec. 22, Dec. 23, Dec. 24, and Dec. 25 (Christmas Day) shall be off days for all purposes — including travel.”

“Players will report back to their Clubs on Dec. 26, which shall be used for testing, practice and/or travel only,” the league’s statement said.

“Upon return from the Holiday Break to team facilities, no individual in the team’s Traveling Party shall enter the facility (other than for testing purposes) until they have a negative test result. “

The NHL is the first competition around the world to have suspended games due to the Coronavirus outbreak in the second half of 2021. The decision has been made in the wake of recent circumstances to reduce the spread of the Omicron variant amongst the players and staff. 

A lot of work is being put behind the scenes by the league to pull it’s players out of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. A statement from the NHL and NHLPA is expected within the upcoming hours confirming the same.  After the release of the statement, they will work on rescheduling their suspended games.