It’s official: the coronavirus pandemic has halted the NHL season in its tracks, as the professional hockey league announced Thursday that the season has been suspended indefinitely.
As the NHL put it, the season has been paused, effective immediately, strongly in part because of NBA player Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID-19 Wednesday night.
Here’s the league’s full release, which includes Commissioner Gary Bettman saying they hope to resume the season when it is appropriate and award a Stanley Cup champion.
Prior to the report, the NHL canceled every team’s morning practice and media availability, a strong indication that it would follow its professional counterparts in the NBA and MLS to suspend all operations.
Major League Baseball is also reportedly suspending all operations indefinitely.
“I’m not a doctor so I’m not one to give advice to anyone. Let’s all just wash our hands and stop coughing on each other and we’ll be alright,” said Wild forward Zach Parise in an interview with Kevin Falness earlier this week – before the pandemic reached a fever pitch on Wednesday.
If the NHL were to resume action with the postseason – canceling the rest of the regular season – at a later date, the Wild would miss the playoffs. At the point of the season being suspended, Minnesota (77 points) is one point out of a wild-card spot.
- Winnipeg – 80 points
- Nashville – 78 points
- Vancouver – 78 points
- Minnesota – 77 points
More to come.
