The Bruins are going to be awfully busy between now and the end of the regular season.
The NHL finally announced its comprehensive adjustment to the 2021-22 schedule on Wednesday — with the league announcing new dates for 98 total games that needed to be postponed or pushed back due to the mid-December COVID surge that jumbled up every team’s calendar.
And the Bruins — who spent close to two weeks off last month due to a COVID outbreak on their roster — are now staring at a pretty stacked slate of games in February.
With three weeks in February now available to the NHL after pulling out of the 2022 Olympics, the Bruins will now have seven more games added to their schedule that month — with another two games shuffled around in March and April.
Here is the full schedule of makeup games:
Feb. 8: vs. Penguins, 7 p.m.
Feb. 10: vs. Hurricanes, 7 p.m.
Feb. 12: at Senators, 12:30 p.m.
Feb. 15: at NY Rangers, 7 p.m.
Feb. 17: at NY Islanders, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 19: at Senators, 7 p.m.
Feb 21: vs. Avalanche, 1 p.m.
March 21: at Canadiens, 7 p.m.
April 24: at Canadiens, 7 p.m.
The Bruins, who are currently in a stretch of eight games over 15 days leading up to the All-Star break, will then play 39 games over the final 82 days of the regular season. Ouch.
The NHL’s schedule reshuffle — which also includes date changes for 23 additional games — does ensure that all 32 teams will complete their respective 82-game slates by the regular season’s original closing date of April 29.
While this new schedule means less and less practice time for the B’s — and the added risk of injuries piling up — Bruce Cassidy attempted to focus on the positives when asked about it on Tuesday.
“A lot of teams go through it — the intensity, the schedule,” Cassidy said ahead of Boston’s game against Carolina. “When you're going well, everyone wants to play. That's the advantage you have right now — we are going well, which can change quickly, as you know in this league.
“But when your game's not well, and you need practice times and you have a schedule like this, that's when it gets tough. I've always said that. That's why you want to have your game in order. We had the luxury of having a week off there and used that time to get our game in order. Changed a few things and I think it's worked out well for everybody.”
NHL to stop testing asymptomatic players
The NHL is going to adjust its testing protocols in the coming weeks, with the league set to follow the lead of the NFL when it comes to not testing asymptomatic players following the All-Star Break.
Here are the new testing protocols, which were announced by the NHL on Tuesday:
The plan is to continue the current testing Protocol through Feb. 3. Provided positive test results continue to decline within the NHL, and pending review and agreement by Jan. 31 by the NHL’s and NHLPA’s medical experts, the Protocol will be updated as follows:
i. There will be no testing of Fully Vaccinated Players and Staff during the All-Star break (including for participating Players and staff), unless needed for travel or development of symptoms.
ii. There will be a single test upon re-entry to Club facilities post-All-Star, after which there will no longer be asymptomatic testing, or testing of Fully Vaccinated close contacts.
iii. Thereafter, testing will continue only on a limited “for cause” basis in Fully Vaccinated Players and Staff who develop symptoms or require testing for cross-border travel.
iv. The post-COVID “testing holiday” will remain at 90 days, but symptom-based testing can still be done at the team physician’s discretion. Testing for cross-border travel post-COVID will be dictated by the relevant health authority, which is currently 90 days for entry to the U.S. and 180 days for entry to Canada.
For those players who do show signs of symptoms and test positive, the current five-day isolation window remains intact.
For Cassidy, the NHL’s adjusted protocols stand as a step in the right direction, with many of the Bruins who have entered protocols over the past month exhibiting few — if any — serious symptoms.
“I am,” Cassidy said when asked if he was in favor of lighter testing protocols. “The players are all vaccinated, so is the staff. A lot of players are not getting a lot of symptoms that are getting COVID. They're recovering very quickly. So far, we've had no guy come back and have effects like a week later where it's a risk to their health. So it appears that they're getting through it well, so I think it makes sense to do that."