The pandemic prompted defenseman Kasper Kotkansalo, a third-round pick from 2017, to decide not to return to Boston University this fall, and instead stay and play in his native Finland.

“A bitter sweet feeling of saying goodbye to BU,” Kotkansalo wrote over the weekend on his Instagram account. “Due to the COVID situation I’ve decided to stay in Finland for the upcoming season.”

I mean, the answer to the title question is “duh”, but I found the Kotkansalo part (which was more than half the article) interesting.

Around the NHL

The NHL playoffs viewing diary - A timeline of the restart tournament’s opening weekend - ESPN

9:02 p.