The Vancouver Canucks were originally scheduled to return from their three-week hiatus last night to face the Oilers, but following J.T. Miller’s candid comments, the league decided to postpone their first two games to give the team more recovery time.
Unfortunately, Vancouver’s revised schedule isn’t any better than the previous one. The Canucks will hit the ice tomorrow at 4 PM Pacific Time to face Toronto at home, which kicks off the first of 19 games in 32 days.
To put that in context, they were originally supposed to play 19 times in 31 days, so kudos to the NHL for giving the team one extra day off to help them finish the season.
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I mean, it’s not like most of the players just went through the worst COVID outbreak in North American pro sports, right?
Unsurprisingly, the season will also end a few days later due to these postponements, as Vancouver is set to play their final game on May 19th against Calgary rather than the original May 16th date.
If you can’t tell, I’m super pumped to watch the Canucks and Flames play three times in four nights to close out their respective seasons when other teams will already be competing in the playoffs already.
In all seriousness, what’s the point in scheduling meaningless games between two teams that are all but guaranteed to miss the postseason anyways? I get that there’s a lot of money on the line, but couldn’t revenue be recouped at a later date? Perhaps the NHL could’ve scheduled Vancouver and Calgary to compete in some exhibition matches before the start of next season, and I’m sure that there are many other ways to make up for whatever financial loss the league will incur this year.
Anyway, the NHL’s decision to force the Canucks to finish out their 56-game schedule is another reminder that sports — and the world in general — is driven by money rather than empathy for the actual people involved. I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be mad, and I just wish that no other team will go through a similar experience.
Here’s to hoping the team finishes out the season safe and healthy.