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The NHL and NHLPA announced Friday the postponement of its 2020 international games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The NHLPA and the NHL remain committed to maintaining and growing our international presence," the two sides said in a statement. "We hope that our fans overseas understand the need to postpone the 2020 games, but we look forward to being back with them in 2021."

The Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators were slated to open their 2020-21 campaigns in Prague, Czech Republic while the Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets were scheduled to play a pair of games in Helsinki, Finland later in the fall.

"We are disappointed by the postponement of our trip to Finland, but look forward to having the opportunity to play in front of Finland's passionate hockey fans in the future," said Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen in a statement. Kekalainen is a native of Kuopio, Finland and was the NHL's first European-born general manager.

Boston was also to complete its training camp in Germany and then play Adler Mannheim in an exhibition game. The Predators were going to wrap up their training camp in Switzerland before taking on SC Bern.

The league was also looking to schedule an event in China for the 2020-21 season, though deputy commissioner Bill Daly ruled that as "unlikely" in early March, according to ESPN's Emily Kaplan.

The NHL began its Global Series games in 2017. The 2020 event would have marked the fourth straight year, and ninth time overall, that the league has traveled to Europe to play regular-season games.

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