NHL cancels games for today and tomorrow

This just in, the NHL has postponed this evening's Stanley Cup Playoff games. While we await official confirmation from the league, several well sourced NHL insiders are reporting the news.

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There's also a belief that tomorrow's games could be cancelled/postponed as well:

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This is of course in reaction to the NBA's decision to postpone/cancel games yesterday 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. Yesterday the NHL held a "moment of reflection" prior to Game 3 of the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning's series, but to be frank it rang hollow and empty. Today's announcement though is a historic moment for the sport.

From everything that's being discussed online, it certainly sounds like Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA) leaders Evander Kane, Matt Dumba and Akim Aliu had a lot to do with today's decision from both the NHL and the NHLPA. NHL insider Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports that over 100 NHL players held a conference call with Kane and Dumba earlier today.

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As ESPN's Emily Kaplan reports, it was Kane, Dumba and Aliu who convinced the players to "take a step back" and cancel today's and tomorrow's games.

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Interestingly enough, New York based reporter Larry Brooks reports that the Vancouver Canucks were the "driving force" behind the cancellation of today's games. It's unclear whether Canucks leaders reached out to the HDA or vice versa, but in any case the Canucks are being given credit along with the HDA for the NHL's protest.

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Regardless of your personal or political opinions and whether or not you feel this protest is worthwhile, this is undeniably a historic moment in hockey history. Never before has the league staged a walk out for humanitarian reasons. Make no mistake, history is being made today. Again, whether you agree with the sentiment behind this protest is entirely different matter altogether.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure where I stand on things just yet. But I do know that I'll take the next two days to reflect on everything that's being highlighted by these protests and I'll come out a more informed individual on the other side.