NHL-wide pause is being talked about!

Things have been moving quickly around the National Hockey League on Friday, and definitely not in the right direction. The Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers have been shut down until December 26, the league announced on Friday.

“A decision on when each team’s training facilities will re-open will be made by the League and the NHLPA in the coming days,” the league wrote in a statement.

On top of that, the game between the Boston Bruins and Canadiens in Montreal was also postponed earlier today.

With outbreak reaches a high and many teams being affected, sources reports that an NHL-wide pause is being talked about, but some teams may push back because some of their upcoming games over the holidays are big money-makers, per Patrick Johnson.

It's always about money, no doubt. 

Insider Pierre LeBrun pointed out that NHL/NHLPA are in steady communication, basically it’s a team by team, case by case approach trying to get through this wave while following medical counsel, and hoping to avoid a league-wide pause (that’s a last resort).

“Whether or not a pause can be avoided, we’ll see…”

In Calgary, Mikael Backlund became the 19th Flames player to enter the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol on Friday as the outbreak is getting worse around the National Hockey League. That puts the Flames’ total number of cases up to 32, including 19 players.

We can understand why these teams are being shut down, though we are starting to wonder if the NHL will be forced to pause the season.