Toronto Maple Leafs' Jason Spezza, left, and Vancouver Canucks' Tyler Myers reach for the puck with their sticks after goalie Thatcher Demko made a save, on March 6, 2021.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The Maple Leafs boarded a plane in Toronto on Friday headed for the great unknown. In these unsettled times, that means they flew cross-continent to Vancouver to play games, or possibly not, against the COVID-19 ward formerly known as the Canucks.
One can suspect that the NHL gave the visitors some sort of assurance before they embarked on a five-hour flight. The games on Saturday and Monday remained posted on the league’s schedule until midafternoon, when Saturday’s contest was postponed and moved to Sunday. So for now, they will play on Sunday and Tuesday. Maybe.
There is clearly not as much thought at the moment about protecting the integrity of the game as there is in seeing that games take place.
Otherwise, the NHL would not have tried to force the Canucks to play on Friday after having had one practice session over the preceding 24 days.
That game, against the Oilers, was postponed Thursday after Vancouver players protested and demanded more time through the NHL Players’ Association to shake off the effects of COVID-19.
Two dozen Canucks players and one coach were stricken with a variant of the novel coronavirus since their last game on March 24.
Late Thursday, the league and the Players’ Association sent out tersely worded statements in lockstep announcing the postponement. The office of Bill Daly, the NHL’s deputy commissioner, has ignored requests for comment this week as the situation became more tenuous, while the NHLPA pretty much did the same. It is almost as though the goal of both is to contain information more carefully than the Canucks contained the virus. Once outside the bottle, that genie proved very difficult to rein in.
As of Thursday evening, only three Vancouver players remained on the daily list the league compiles of those who are unavailable because they tested positive for the virus, were in contact with someone who did or are in mandatory isolation because they were traded from a team in the United States to one in Canada.
The regular season was scheduled to end May 8, but that has already been pushed back by eight days for Canadian teams. With each additional postponement, even finishing by then seems unlikely.
The contagious respiratory illness has caused hiccups throughout the league – on Friday, it was announced that Colorado’s next three games were put on the back burner when a third Avalanche player had entered the COVID-19 protocol.
But no division has been as ravaged as the NHL North Division, especially at such a crucial juncture. Through Saturday, the Canucks will have had seven games postponed. That is not only a problem for them, but for their opponents, most of whom are embroiled in a playoff race.
After a 5-2 loss to Winnipeg on Thursday, the Maple Leafs enter the weekend in first place in the all-Canadian division, but hold only a three-point lead over the Jets. After playing on Sunday and Monday in Vancouver – or perhaps not – Toronto has three games scheduled in Winnipeg next week.
After this five-game road trip, it is entirely possible that the Maple Leafs could find themselves trailing in the standings for the first time in four months. They hit the road after three successive losses and have converted only one goal in their past 42 power plays. You’d figure that Sheldon Keefe could recruit guys from beer leagues and shove them out on the ice with Mitch Marner with better results.
“It’s quite obvious what kind of impact we are having with our power play,” Keefe said during a postgame video call on Thursday. He looked like a cartoon character ready to spit out nails.
What will become of the Canucks, forced into action with players still recovering from serious illness, remains to be seen. They were outsiders in the race to the postseason even before this.
Four of the seven Canadian teams will make it, with the Maple Leafs, Jets, Oilers and Canadiens in control of those berths. Calgary is in fifth place and closing in on Montreal, but it is also running short on time.
As of today, Vancouver has 19 regular-season games left and 30 days to complete them.
“That is a lot of games and not a ton of nights with travel across the country,” Connor McDavid, the Edmonton superstar, said Thursday. “In a busy month in a normal season you might play 15 or 16. Throwing three more in there is a lot to ask.”
He politely deferred when asked if he believed it was even possible.
“These are strange times,” McDavid said. “It is never easy to get back into it after long layoffs. The situation has put them in a difficult spot. They are definitely behind the 8-ball.”
McDavid had COVID-19 during the off-season but considers himself lucky.
“I wasn’t too badly affected by it,” he said. “It was at a time when there wasn’t a lot being asked of me. I just took time off and got back into it after my quarantine was done. Not everyone is as lucky as I was.”