Attendance restrictions raise questions about Canadian home dates

In many Canadian cities -- Montreal and Winnipeg most notably -- several games have already been postponed through January in the hope that they will be able to be held with full attendance later in the season. On Tuesday, the league announced nine games, including four in Montreal, that would be rescheduled for later in the year.

Now, as restrictions are tightened in British Columbia and Ontario, there are further questions around home dates for the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet tweets that Canucks home dates on Jan. 5 and Jan. 8 could be postponed until the capacity increases. Those are games against the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators, respectively, once the Canucks return from their current road trip. Earlier this month, the BC government announced restrictions that would cap attendance at 50% for events of more than 1,000 people.

The Ontario government has gone even further, limiting attendance to just 1,000 people for large sporting events starting Friday. The Maple Leafs and Senators -- as well as many OHL arenas -- will obviously be hugely affected by that change, limiting their ability to drive revenue from ticket sales and concessions, revenue that is important to the league’s projections.

The Maple Leafs had their Jan. 3 game against the Carolina Hurricanes postponed already, but were supposed to play against the Senators Saturday night in Toronto. They also have a home date against the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 5 before a four-game road trip.

Ottawa, meanwhile, is scheduled to host the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 3, before a five-game road trip. It is not clear yet if the league will postpone these games, but recent actions suggest it is a possibility.

Notably, the Ontario government also has changed its isolation guidelines to recommend just five days (down from 10) for vaccinated individuals who are asymptomatic or have had their symptoms resolve. That would mean the NHL’s new guidelines would now apply to Maple Leafs and Senators players, allowing some earlier exits from the COVID protocol (provided they test negative).