The National Hockey League still has not made any firm decision yet on if they plan to finish the 2019-20 regular season and playoffs. However what we do know at this time is that the NHL will not be playing any regular season games in Europe for the 2020-21 campaign.
Initially, the Boston Bruins were to play the Nashville Predators at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic to open the 2020-21 NHL regular season. Then later in the season, the Colorado Avalanche were to play the Columbus Blue Jackets for two games at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland.
The games were all supposed to be part of the NHL Global Series. Due to the evil disease of coronavirus, the NHL has made the decision of not having any games in Europe this fall.
Ironically, Finland and the Czech Republic have been able to limit the spread of coronavirus much better than the United States and Canada, which host all 31 NHL franchises. There are currently 8065 cases of coronavirus in the Czech Republic and 271 deaths. In Finland there are 5738 cases and 260 deaths.
Meanwhile in the United States, the coronavirus statistics are dangerously high at the moment. There are currently 1,309,657 cases and 77,964 deaths. Meanwhile in Canada, there are 66, 313 cases and 4,567 fatalities.
There are three Bruins from the Czech Republic. They are right winger David Pastrnak of Havirov; center David Krejci of Sternberk and right winger Ondrej Kase of Kadan. Currently, Pastrnak is tied with Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals for the NHL lead in goals with 48 and is third in the NHL in points with 95. He only trails Edmonton Oilers superstars Leon Draisaitl (110 points) and Connor McDavid (97 points).
There are two Blue Jackets and two Avalanche players from Finland. In Columbus, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo is from Pori and defenseman Markus Nutivaara is from Oulu and in Colorado, right winger Mikko Rantanen is from Nousiainen and right winger Joonas Donskoi is from Raahe.
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