from Frank Seravalli of TSN,

The NHL will relax its COVID-19 protocol for fully vaccinated teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs, according to a memo distributed to clubs on Friday.

The modified protocol will allow playoff-bound clubs greater freedoms with regards to masks, testing, team meetings, social gatherings and travel - once 85 per cent of a team’s traveling party is fully vaccinated.

The NHL considers a person fully vaccinated once two weeks have passed since receiving the final dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine.

That is welcomed news to the 12 American-based NHL teams, many of which have already reached the 85-per cent vaccination threshold for their traveling party, which includes players, coaches and team personnel. But with slower vaccination rates and limited availability in Canada, the belief is none of the four playoff-bound Canadian clubs are anywhere close to that mark.

Here are the notable changes:

> Almost all of the accommodations made are for “fully vaccinated individuals.” As the NHL and its 31 clubs did not make the vaccine mandatory, there are believed to be one to two players per team - in many instances - who chose to not receive the vaccine. Any member of the traveling party who chose not to receive the vaccine must continue to abide by all of the previous (and stringent) preventative measures that were in place in the previous COVID-19 protocol.

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added 4:32pm, NHL/NHLPA statement is below.