This just in, the Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA) led by NHL stars Evander Kane and Matt Dumba, as well as former NHLer Akim Aliu have formally requested that the NHL postpone tonight’s scheduled games as a show of solidarity with the NBA’s walkout protests.
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If you’ve been living under a rock and you have no clue what happened in the NBA yesterday, the league effectively shut down after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court in a show of protest against the issues of police brutality and racial inequality in the wake of Jacob Blake’s shooting in Kenosha, WI. Several other NBA teams followed suit, to the point where the entire league elected to postpone games. Several teams in MLB including the Milwaukee Brewers elected to sit out their games, as well.
Meanwhile, the NHL and NHLPA have agreed to meet laster today to discuss the potentiality of a player-led walkout and the postponement of tonight’s games between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders, as well as the Vegas Golden Knights and Vancouver Canucks.
It remains to be seen what comes from today’s meeting between, but suffice it to say that the HDA’s formal request certainly puts added pressure on the NHL and its players to stand up and take some sort of action.
Personally, I’m not expecting the NHL to do much and it will likely be “business as usual” today when the puck drops between the Flyers and Islanders at 7pm ET. Now, having said that former Sportsnet reporter Irfaan Gafar reports that there are “growing talks” amongst NHL players in the bubble to postpone tonight’s games.
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It’s also worth noting that media availability for both the Golden Knights and Canucks originally scheduled for today has been postponed. The two teams are expected to take the ice at 9:45pm ET this evening.
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Now, this could be a precursor to more announcement to come or it could mean absolutely nothing. All we can do is sit back, wait and watch. Stay tuned, hockey fans. We could be on the verge of another historic evening in sports history.
