Leafs star tests positive for COVID-19
Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, two National Hockey League sources outside Toronto have confirmed to Postmedia.
Matthews, 22, has apparently gone into quarantine at his home in Arizona, hoping to be healthy enough and eligible to travel to Toronto and participate in the opening of Leafs camp on July 10.
Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen, who was spending much of the break from NHL play with Matthews at his Scottsdale home, did not test positive for COVID-19, the same sources indicate. Andersen is no longer living with Matthews — and is no longer in Arizona.
The Maple Leafs released a statement Friday night, saying “we will not be commenting on reports surrounding testing for any of the club’s players or staff.
“The club will defer to the NHL’S policy on handling the disclosure of positive results, in that the league will provide updates on a regular basis ... without disclosing either the identities of affected clubs or players.”
Matthews wasn’t available for comment on Friday and his agent, Judd Moldaver, didn’t return messages left by Postmedia. Andersen wasn’t available for comment but a source close to the goaltender confirmed he had not tested positive.
Matthews, who is in the first year of a five-year, US$58 million deal with the Leafs, is not alone in contracting the virus in Arizona, where cases have spiked in recent days. According to sources, a numbers of unidentified Arizona Coyotes players who were training alongside Matthews also tested positive.
The news of a positive test of the 47-goal scorer comes in the wake of the Tampa Bay Lightning closing theirs practice facilities and at about the same time the Philadelphia Phillies have experienced an outbreak of COVID-19 in their Florida training facility.