The NHL, in a move that comes as very small surprise, is pausing the season beginning Wednesday. With a raft of teams already having their games postponed, the impact is minimal at worst, since only the five contests remaining on the docket for Thursday are to be rescheduled. Due to all the cancellations/postponements already, no games were still remaining to be played Wednesday.
Hearing NHL/NHLPA will agree to pause season Wednesday through Christmas Day. Players will return to team facilities on 26th — one day earlier than usual — so that testing can be resumed.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 21, 2021
The @NHL and @NHLPA have agreed to begin the Holiday Break after Tuesday’s games. Practices will resume on Dec. 26 and the League’s regular-season schedule will resume on Dec. 27. https://t.co/0Bmu8dlZ1M pic.twitter.com/JHbxtzMX6D
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 21, 2021
The Rangers contest Tuesday against Montreal was already postponed. As such, the only impact is to the practice schedule with the pause beginning Wednesday. if there is a silver lining to the break, Artemi Panarin and Igor Shesterkin receive additional time to make sure they are 100% when play resumes. Both players were viewed as good to go if New York did play tomorrow, so the extra time off just allows each the ability to truly be fully healed when action starts up again December 27 against Detroit.
I think we all saw the writing on the wall when additional teams closed their facilities over the last few days and cross-border activity was curtailed. The league will need to determine how best to handle the spike in cases resulting from Omicron. Not testing does not appear to be an option, so limited crowds - which would impact the league's ability to regain the lost revenue of the past - could be an option, though not a palatable one.
in case you were holding out hope that the league would participate in the Olympics, this bit of news has to put that firmly in doubt.
Sources confirm the February break in the #NHL schedule, originally for the Olympics, will now be used to play make up games for all games taken off the board.
— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) December 21, 2021
The Rangers tweeted congrats to the four members of the organization that made their respective World Junior teams. Brett Berard for Team USA, Dylan Garand and Will Cuylle for Team Canada and Kalle Vasanen of Finland. One slight problem. The Rangers had five players make their countries' team, forgetting that Jaroslav ChmelaÅ™ (R5, 2021) earned a spot on the Czech squad.
Make way for the kids.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 20, 2021
Congratulations to our four #FutureBlue prospects who will take part in this year's #WorldJuniors Championship. pic.twitter.com/rjNl7vXJQX
Lots of chatter on the blog on the lack of third round picks that have panned out by the Rangers. Pavel Buchnevich, whose name dominated the comments today, is clearly one. Next year's pick was traded for Ryan Reaves, so we know what that selection bore, since Reaves is a member of the squad. One pick that early on looks like it might have been a steal is Ryder Korczak, selected in the third round last year, who was named the WHL Player of the Week!
After recording seven points in three outings for the @MJWARRIORS, @NYRangers prospect Ryder Korczak has been named the WHL Player of the Week!
— The WHL (@TheWHL) December 20, 2021
📰 | https://t.co/tiwmeRw7bU pic.twitter.com/maZZgtznNe