DALLAS — The National Hockey League's extended holiday break will last at least two more games for the Dallas Stars, turns out.
In a statement issued on Monday afternoon, the league announced the postponement of three upcoming games on its leaguewide schedule because of COVID-related concerns -- including the next two contests on the Stars' slate.
The Stars' Dec. 29 and Dec. 31 games -- away and home matchups, respectively, and both against the Colorado Avalanche -- will now be rescheduled for a to-be-determined date later in the season.
These latest postponements are the latest to arrive amidst the NHL's ongoing struggles to contain COVID's spread this NHL season. Already this year, more than 50 games have been delayed over COVID concerns -- including a number of games last week, as the league responded to more than 15% of its players being in virus protocol by starting its already-scheduled holiday break a few days early.
But the additional time away from the ice only proved so effective a remedy for the Stars.
On Sunday, Dallas placed forwards Jason Robertson, Radek Faksa, Joel Kiviranta and Michael Raffl, as well as defenseman Miro Heiskanen, into COVID protocol. These most recent additions raised the number of Stars players unavailable because of COVID to eight.
The virus' spread throughout the franchise isn't limited to the NHL level, either. The Dallas Morning News reports that 13 of the players on the team's minor league AHL affiliate roster -- plus two of that team's coaches -- are also in COVID protocol.
On Sunday, the NHL announced that it was reinstituting "taxi squads" -- six non-rostered players who travel with teams as backups should rostered players be unavailable -- in order to help teams dress full squads in the face of COVID-related issues.
With so many of its AHL players also currently unavailable to lace up as replacements for the NHL players in protocol, though, the league made the call on Monday to push the Stars' remaining December games -- including the semi-traditional New Year's Eve home game.
For the time being, the team's next game will arrive on Jan. 2, when it travels west to face off against the Arizona Coyotes.
