Dallas Stars season opener postponed due to COVID-19.
The first NHL facility shut down is here. And it’s the 2019-20 Western Conference Champion Dallas Stars.
NHL statement on the Dallas Stars. https://t.co/AsYqpL4XK3 pic.twitter.com/r2iT8vYWH0 — NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 8, 2021
After watching 17 weeks of NFL football it comes as no surprise to me that an NHL team has had to shut down their facilities due to COVID. Almost every team in the NFL had to shut down their facilities because of COVID at some point this season. In most of those instances the teams were following protocol too, it just so happened that someone got COVID. And it looks like that is what happened here with the Dallas Stars.
Six Dallas Stars players and two staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. Even though the Dallas Stars were following all of the COVID protocols set in place by the NHL and CDC they still ended up contracting the virus. The Dallas Stars decided to close down their facilities as a result. And that just puts even more strain on an already strenuous season. Cause the Stars have a lot of games to play in a very short amount of time.
Rescheduling all of Dallas' games in the current schedule window would mean 56 games played in 110 days. #condensed — Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) January 8, 2021
Playing 56 games in 110 days is going to be a pretty difficult thing for the Dallas Stars to accomplish. This sounds kind of like an NHL version of “Around the World in 80 Days.” Can it be done? Yes. Will it be extremely fucking difficult? You bet your ass it will be.
Hopefully everyone who tested positive can recover, stay healthy and get back on the ice soon. And no doubt the Dallas Stars are hoping soon is in the next day or two. Although that is damn near impossible. The NHL has already shortened the season for every team, and now the Stars will have to play the same amount of games as everyone else in even less time than before.