While it’s not fair to those teams, the unfairness is spread around. I mean the games don’t happen. No points at all. Handing out points is just as unfair; the only thing that matters is how many points teams get in relation to one another. This is Vancouver’s remaining schedule by opponent:
Calgary: 3
Oilers: 4
Leafs: 4
Sens: 4
They have no remaining games against Winnipeg or Montreal and Montreal is the only team they have a shot at catching if they were to play all the games. Eliminating their games entirely effectively puts Montreal out of reach. Just cancelling a bunch of Canucks games will eliminate Vancouver, and they are likely out anyway, and should be the team that takes the brunt of it.
Where cancelling the games might have an effect is on seeding; the Oilers and Jets are tied with 47 points, so cancelling four Oilers games while cancelling no Jets games gives the Jets a huge advantage in giving them the opportunity to pick up lots of points the Oilers now can’t get. But the reverse is also true - if you call all those games forfeits you hand the Oilers eight free points and the Jets zero free points. At least in the former case the Jets do have to go out and win the points. There is no easy call here but I think just discounting the games is the least bad solution.
Similarly, a forfeit approach actually gives Calgary a shot at catching Montreal; six free points ties them with Montreal in points. Montreal still has five games in hand, which is a hell of a big edge, but it’s not insurmountable. Cancelling the games is much fairer in the case of that matchup.
