NHL: Players won’t go to Beijing Olympics

Well it’s official.

The NHL announced that its players will not go to the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The League said it will now use the scheduled time set aside for the Olympic break to make up for all the recently postponed games.

While the news has been swirling around for a bit, the NHL made the decision based on the COVID-19 outbreak among several teams and its desire “to responsibly and safely complete the entirety of the NHL regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs in a timely manner,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.

So far, there have been 50 games postponed throughout the league.

The Boston Bruins have had four games postponed as their own COVID cases have placed now 10 players into protocol.

Looking ahead to the Bruins’ February schedule, they have one scheduled home game currently against the Seattle Kraken on February 1.

It does look challenging for the Bruins to reschedule their home games at the TD Garden during those two weeks set aside for the Olympics in February and the still-planned All-Star break.

The arena has numerous events scheduled in that time frame, but it’s not completely impossible to make something work. There are seven dates available to schedule at least one home make-up game.

And yes, that’s assuming there are no more postponements announced and games resume after the Christmas break.

As always, we’ll keep you posted on any developing news!