Here’s How NHL Will Utilize What Would Have Been Three-Week Olympic Break

When the 2021-22 NHL schedule was made, a three-week break was slotted into February in order to accommodate the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Now that players officially will not attend due to the rise in COVID-19 cases throughout the league, plus potentially being quarantined in China for five weeks should they test positive, the NHL will shift its focus to rescheduling the postponed games.

Many arenas already have things booked throughout those three weeks, so scheduling could get tricky. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported the schedule maker will “ask all 32 clubs for updated building dates, particularly for that three-week gap in February. Some buildings had gone ahead and booked non-NHL events like concerts for that period but there’s still some dates to work with.”

For a team like the Boston Bruins, who have had games postponed and will need to make them up along the way, they’ll need to work around what TD Garden has available. Between Feb. 6 and 22 there are eight days with nothing on the books, so there is some flexibility.

However, not every NHL team has had games postponed.

“And it’s not just about re-scheduling postponed games in that three-week period but also moving other games around from teams that actually were not affected yet by cancellations so that those teams have games to play as well during that February period,” LeBrun tweeted.

The NHL shut down teams down through the holiday break, with operations set to resume Dec. 27.