NHL Postpones Nine Home Games Involving Canadian Teams Due to Attendance Restrictions

The NHL has postponed nine home games hosted by Canadian teams due to attendance restrictions put in place by local governments.

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The NHL announced on Tuesday evening that nine games involving Canadian teams have been postponed due to stringent attendance restrictions placed on them by local governments.

In an official statement, the league announced that these games will be rescheduled at a later date when these restrictions have either been loosened or lifted in full.

The postponed games in question are as follows:

Pittsburgh at Ottawa and Winnipeg at Calgary on Dec. 31, Carolina at Toronto on Jan. 3, Washington at Montreal on Jan. 4, Toronto at Montreal on Jan. 6, Buffalo at Montreal and Seattle at Winnipeg on Jan. 8, and Columbus at Montreal and Minnesota at Winnipeg on Jan. 10.

It's an interesting change of pace from the normal reasons behind postponements in recent weeks.

With the Omicron variant causing a massive spike in cases across North America, many local Canadian governments have either lowered the maximum capacity at sporting events to 50 percent or simply banned fans from attending altogether. The NHL clearly hopes that these restrictions will not be necessary towards the end of the season, and is hoping that the affected teams will be able to gain gate revenue for these scheduled dates at that time.

With this news, the NHL's slate of postponements only continues to grow, leading many to wonder where the league will find the time to slot so many games into the schedule.