KHL cancels the 2019-20 season!

It is official in Russia, hockey is over for 2020. 

The KHL has announced that it has decided to cancel the 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 threat. 

The league has given up on trying to reschedule its playoffs. 

Teams from Finland and Kazakhstan had already withdrawn because of travel and safety concerns. That left the league with six teams in an eight-team bracket to compete in the postseason. The KHL tried to draw up a new playoff system and considered resuming in June and July but has now decided to focus on preparing for a 2020-21 season instead. 

League president and former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Alexei Morozov says “we consider that no one has the right to take on responsibility for people’s lives and health.”

We don't know how or even whether a champion will be declared, but for now the important focus remains on the health and life of people in Europe and Asia. 

The Russia-based KHL is widely considered to be the strongest league outside the NHL.  We wonder if the same thing will happen in the NHL...