Blackhawks extend their head coach
Chicago Blackhawks: The Blackhawks have extended head coach Jeremy Colliton for two more years.
No fans to start for the Penguins
Shelly Anderson: The Pittsburgh Penguins announced that they won’t be allowing fans to attend home games in the month of January due to the state Covid regulations.
Injury Notes
Kristen Shilton: Toronto Maple Leafs forward Alex Kerfoot was on the ice before the team practiced yesterday and left when teammates came on. Not sure if he’ll be ready for their opener.
Dennis Bernstein: Los Angeles Kings forwards Alex Turcotte and Martin Frk are listed as week-to-week with lower-body injuries.
Charlie Roumeliotis: Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Nikita Zadorov said that he missed time the past few days because he tweaked his groin: “It wasn’t anything major. I’m ready to roll.”
Thomas Drance: The Vancouver Canucks canceled their practice on Sunday because they had a false positive Covid test according to coach Travis Green.
Puck Pedia: “The #Canucks injury to Hawryluk could have cap impact. Was not on waivers today likely because of injury. Despite being on 2-way & playing <50 GP, was on NHL roster all days last yr so no Season Opening IR cap relief. Full Cap Hit counts on NHL Roster.”
Vince Z. Mercogliano: New York Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad said that he was out because he had COVID. He is okay now.
Teams and league will lose more money by playing this season
TSN: Gary Bettman said they know that games will be impacted and that they’ll need to be flexible this season.
“We understand that there is an element of risk, that COVID-19 may impact one or more games,” he said. “We also understand, as we have throughout, that in order to accomplish our goal we’re going to need to be flexible and agile in how we deal with whatever we’re confronted with.”
Medical experts will be helping guide their protocols and they will be ‘vigorously enforced.’
Bettman adds that teams and the league will lose more money playing the season than if they didn’t play. 50 percent of their revenue is from selling tickets.
“The magnitude of the loss when you add it all up starts with a ‘B,'” Bettman said. “We’re out of the ‘M’ range and into the ‘B’ range.
“That’s just what we have to deal with and that’s what the clubs have decided they’re prepared to do.”
