SEATTLE — The NHL on Monday postponed the Seattle Kraken’s home game scheduled for Thursday against Ottawa because of COVID-19 problems with the Senators.
It’s the 92nd NHL game to be postponed for coronavirus-related reasons this season. Several of those are linked to attendance restrictions in Canada.
The Senators have nine players, including league ice time leader Thomas Chabot, in virus protocol along with assistant coach Bob Jones, who was one of the new additions Monday. A major reason their game at Seattle was called off is that none of the players could have returned to Canada afterward because of federal travel restrictions still in place.
The Buffalo Sabres added forward Kyle Okposo and defenseman Casey Fitzgerald to the league’s COVID-19 protocol list. They join four players, including center Dylan Cozens, who were went into protocol Dec. 29.
Buffalo has been off since a 4-3 overtime loss at Boston on Saturday, in which the Sabres welcomed back forwards Jeff Skinner and Vinnie Hinostroza. Coach Don Granato also returned after missing two games following a positive test. The Sabres are off until Thursday, when they host the San Jose Sharks.
The Dallas Stars removed 10 players from the list and appear to be on track to resume play Thursday. Forwards Radek Faksa, Luke Glendening, Roope Hintz, Joel Kiviranta, Michael Raffl and Jason Robertson, defensemen Jani Hakanpaa, Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and Ryan Suter were activated, along with two support staff members taken out of protocol.
The Stars have not played since Dec. 20 because of their outbreak and other scheduling snafus.
Of the 92 postponements this season, 87 have come since the start of December, with the highly contagious delta and omicron variants spreading throughout North America. The Canadian provinces of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba imposing crowd-size limits led to dozens of games being shifted back with the hope that they can be played in front of fans later in 2022.
The Associated Press
