NHL announces changes to almost 30 games.

The National Hockey League did what was frankly a miraculous job of operating the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs inside the bubble without a single positive test for covid-19, but the reality of running a season outside of the bubble has proven to be considerably more challenging. 

Although none of us like it the reality is that covid has become a facet of our everyday lives, drastically impacting the way we live those lives, and the NHL has no special protection against that reality. The league has been learning the hard way this season that the virus is relentless and they have already been forced to alter their schedule on a number of occasions this season, but on Saturday they announced their biggest changes yet. 

A whopping 27 games have been impacted as a result of the sudden outbreaks across the NHL with teams like the Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild hit particularly hard as a result of either outbreaks within the teams or the potential risk of an such an outbreak within a locker room. 

Here is the full list of changes as per the NHL's press release on Saturday:

Game #254, Philadelphia at NY Rangers, originally scheduled for Feb. 16, is now scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 14 at 6 p.m. ET
Game #364, New Jersey at NY Rangers, originally scheduled for March 4, is now scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #667, Buffalo at Washington, originally scheduled for April 13, is now scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #150, Buffalo at NY Islanders, originally scheduled for Feb. 2, is now scheduled for Monday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #295, Buffalo at New Jersey, originally scheduled for Feb. 22, is now scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #635, New Jersey at Buffalo, originally scheduled for April 9, is now scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #322, Philadelphia at Buffalo, originally scheduled for Feb. 26, is now scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 27 at 1 p.m. ET
Game #346, Washington at New Jersey, originally scheduled for March 1, is now scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. ET
Game #301, NY Islanders at New Jersey, originally scheduled for Feb. 23, is now scheduled for Tuesday, March 2 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #180, NY Rangers at New Jersey, originally scheduled for Feb. 6, is now scheduled for Thursday, March 4 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #163, Buffalo at NY Islanders, originally scheduled for Feb. 4, is now scheduled for Thursday, March 4 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #374, NY Rangers at New Jersey, originally scheduled for March 5, is now scheduled for Saturday, March 6 at 1 p.m. ET
Game #375, Buffalo at NY Islanders, originally scheduled for March 5, is now scheduled for Saturday, March 6 at 1 p.m. ET
Game #201, Pittsburgh at New Jersey, originally scheduled for Feb. 9, is now scheduled for Thursday, March 18 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #477, Pittsburgh at New Jersey, originally scheduled for March 19, is now scheduled for Saturday, March 20 at 1 p.m. ET
Game #151, New Jersey at Pittsburgh, originally scheduled for Feb. 2, is now scheduled for Sunday, March 21 at 1 p.m. ET
Game #529, NY Islanders at Boston, originally scheduled for March 27, is now scheduled for Tuesday, March 23 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #532, Buffalo at Pittsburgh, originally scheduled for March 26, is now scheduled for Thursday, March 25 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #179, Buffalo at Boston, originally scheduled for Feb. 6, is now scheduled for Saturday, March 27 at 1 p.m. ET
Game #561, NY Islanders at Pittsburgh, originally scheduled for March 30, is now scheduled for Saturday, March 27 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #557, Philadelphia at Buffalo, originally scheduled for March 30, is now scheduled for Wednesday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Game #716, Philadelphia at New Jersey, originally scheduled for April 20, is now scheduled for Thursday, April 1 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #494, Pittsburgh at New Jersey, originally scheduled for March 21, is now scheduled for Friday, April 9 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #195, Buffalo at Boston, originally scheduled for Feb. 8, is now scheduled for Tuesday, April 13 at 7 p.m. ET
Game #665, NY Islanders at Boston, originally scheduled for April 13, is now scheduled for Wednesday, April 14 at 6 p.m. ET
Game #715, Pittsburgh at Buffalo, originally scheduled for April 19, is now scheduled for Sunday, April 18 at 3 p.m. ET
Game #166, New Jersey at Pittsburgh, originally scheduled for Feb. 4, is now scheduled for Tuesday, April 20 at 7 p.m. ET

This obviously appears to be impacting teams on the East Coast of the United States almost exclusively, and I am very curious how the NHL will move forward if this problem persists over the coming days and weeks.