from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

Ticket sales in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver are capped at 50 per cent by the provincial governments in Alberta and British Columbia, which is better than the alternative, because the Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and Winnipeg Jets aren’t allowed any fans.

As a result of the limits because of the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the NHL started postponing several games in Canada last month, with the owners and players trying to avoid a huge hit financially after playing last season in empty rinks.

Forgive the owners and players if they thought the days of empty rinks or capacity limits were behind them. They were happy to complete a 56-game schedule last season, but didn’t enjoy the fact there was little or no atmosphere even with fake crowd noise and loud music.

Both sides are still paying the price for playing during the pandemic and were hopeful this season would help get them back on the road to financial recovery. Everything looked great until a month ago, and now it feels like the clock has been turned back.

The bottom line is, one way or another, the restrictions in Canada will be a big hit for Hockey Related Revenues, which the owners and players divide 50/50, so essentially the NHL is trying to soften the blow for both sides.

That’s why we’ve seen postponements in Canada.

read on