Bruce Garrioch just flagged a possible problem for Saturday's 14-game NHL slate, and it involves the people who work every one of those games.
The officials. Referees and linesmen fly commercial, and there is no puck drop without them.
Garrioch noted that the NHL's officials fly commercial airlines, that teams can't play without them, and that it's unknown at this point whether they're caught up in it.
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It's a short post, but it points at a weak spot most fans never think about. Players travel on charters. The men in stripes don't.
That matters more on a night like Saturday. Fourteen games means a lot of officials need to be in a lot of different buildings at the same time, with no slack if a crew is delayed.
Teams can fill an empty spot in the lineup with a call-up. A game without a full set of officials is a different problem, and it's one the league can't solve from the bench.
What happens to Saturday's slate if officials are stuck?
Garrioch's own point answers it: no officials, no game. If a crew can't reach its city, that game can't go ahead as scheduled, and the league would have to find a fix on the spot.
That's where a 14-game night turns into a headache. One stranded crew is a problem. Several of them would make it a hot mess, and the league has no cover for that if every official is relying on a commercial flight.
For now, it's a question, not a confirmed disruption. Garrioch himself says it's unknown whether the officials are affected, and no game has been reported as impacted.
But with a full Saturday night schedule on the way, the NHL has little time to make sure every crew is where it needs to be. Any word from the league on its officials and the 14 games would be the first sign of how Saturday plays out.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
How will Saturday's 14-game NHL slate play out?
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