It’s safe to say the Carolina Hurricanes weren’t exactly thrilled when they found out after 10 p.m. Monday night, already having flown to Philadelphia, that Tuesday’s game had been postponed because the Flyers had COVID issues.
It happens, even if the timing was a bit off.
Then the Flyers went ahead and skated Tuesday morning at their practice rink … with 21 healthy skaters.
This was after the Hurricanes learned that they couldn’t go to the arena for practice as planned because the ice had already been covered for basketball.
That added insult to ... insult.
So the Hurricanes flew to Philadelphia for dinner and a stretch at the team hotel to not play a team that was apparently capable of playing after all. Fun trip.
Even if you’re inclined to give anyone and everyone involved the benefit of the doubt, because when it comes to COVID nobody really does know nothing, this math does not add up, and spectacularly so.
There is a paradox here that the NHL’s explanations do not resolve: Either the Flyers couldn’t play or they could practice. How can both be true?
In all of these sports, from the ACC to the NHL and everywhere between, these COVID postponements and cancellations are a black box, like the NCAA’s NET rating. We know most of what goes in, the factors and constants and variables, but sometimes no one really knows what the equation actually is, only what eventually comes out the other end.
In this case, it’s impossible to reverse engineer any of it. The Flyers were able to play Thursday and Saturday and had one additional COVID case Monday, officially announced at 12:10 p.m., more than two hours before the Hurricanes were wheels up to Philadelphia. The Flyers had a defenseman on their taxi squad available to replace him, which is exactly why the NHL reinstated taxi squads. Game on.
Eight hours later, game off.
What materially changed in those eight hours that made the game suddenly unplayable?
And if the Flyers have COVID issues so significant as to prevent them from playing Tuesday night, how could they possibly practice like normal that morning?
It’s hard to take the standings or the NHL itself at face value when teams like the Hurricanes and New York Islanders and others have played short-handed — with only 16 skaters and lineups full of minor-leaguers! — and continued to win, while a team like the Flyers gets a night off and extra practice day amid a five-game losing streak.
The Hurricanes, who are already scheduled to play 33 games in 64 days to close out the season, now have an additional seven postponed games to reschedule. Some of those may yet end up in what would have been the Feb. 4-22 All-Star and Olympic break, but building availability for the two home games and five road games could be an issue.
Already feeling singled out by the NHL after Rod Brind’Amour was unusually fined $25,000 for “inappropriate conduct” on the bench during a November game against the Washington Capitals, this postponement will only add fuel to the conspiracy fire. (The NHL did at least adhere to that new precedent this week, fining Dallas Stars coach Rick Bowness the same amount for a comical stick-swinging display.)
Ironically, the Flyers got Claude Giroux back from the COVID-19 list on Tuesday and the Hurricanes lost Jaccob Slavin. The Flyers had a better chance Tuesday to get their first win in six games than they did when the plug was pulled Monday night.
The Hurricanes have the best record in their division. They’re trying to win the Stanley Cup. Forcing them to skate on dead legs for two months isn’t going to help with that.
