Hits keep coming as Carlo enters protocol; Zboril lost

BOSTON — The Bruins season may be officially on pause, but the team continued to make news on Tuesday. A lot of it was not very good.

The team announced that defenseman Jakub Zboril, the 2015 first-round pick who had made solid strides to becoming an everyday NHLER, had undergone knee surgery for the torn ACL he suffered in a game in Nashville on Dec. 2.

Also, defenseman Brandon Carlo became the 10th Bruin player to enter the NHL’S COVID protocol. With the two staffers also in protocol, that makes it an even dozen.

On the bright side, coach Bruce Cassidy said everyone in protocol is feeling relatively healthy and he expects that he’ll be getting some players back when (or if ?) the B’s season restarts on Dec. 27 against Pittsburgh at the Garden. The B’s next scheduled game is on Dec. 29 at Ottawa, and Canada requires a 14-day waiting period after a testing positive, which will cost the B’s a few players.

“I haven’t talked to everybody every day, but nobody’s become severely ill,” said Cassidy. “A couple of guys had a few symptoms. Other guys, none. But I anticipate everybody that is eligible that meets that 10 days, or I understand you can test out if you have a couple of negatives (two negative tests 24 hours apart), then they will join us on the ice on the 26th for practice and then on the 27th at home for Pittsburgh.”

As of now, it appears that Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar, who tested positive on Dec. 18, and Carlo would not be eligible to return for the Pittsburgh game.

Cassidy said that from both a mental and physical health standpoint, he hopes the isolation period for players and staffers going through it will not be as challenging as it was a year ago, thanks to the vaccines.

“It’s different than a year ago. The vaccine wasn’t available, nor were boosters, so you were seeing a lot more hospitalizations, so you were worried about guys interacting with anybody. Now the guys, all our players and staff are vaccinated, so I feel like that has a lot to do with why guys aren’t requiring hospitalization or extended stays where they’re not able to get up and move around,” said Cassidy. “I think that’s the one thing that’s better from a year ago.”