UPDATE (10:12 p.m. ET): The NHL and NHL Players Association officially announced the extended holiday break.
ORIGINAL STORY: The NHL and NHL Players Association reportedly have agreed to suspend the season for four days leading into Christmas Day, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Friedman reported the pause will begin Wednesday and last through Saturday, extending the traditional three-day Christmas break that generally runs from Dec. 24-26. While all of the games that previously were scheduled for Wednesday already had been postponed, there now will be no team activities and all games scheduled for Thursday have been postponed.
Players will report to team facilities Sunday, rather than Monday, in order to resume COVID-19 testing.
The two games slated for Tuesday (Washington Capitals-Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning-Las Vegas Golden Knights) will be played as scheduled.
The news comes amid a surge in cases of COVID-19 around the league. On Monday, four more teams were shut down due to virus-related issues, bringing the total number of teams in a COVID-related pause to 11 — including the Boston Bruins, who on Saturday were shut down until after Christmas.
The league on Sunday announced no international games would be played in the week leading up to Christmas and said an announcement regarding participation in the 2022 Olympics is forthcoming.
