BACK TO ICE FOR NHL PLAYERS
Tampa Bay Lightning officials pulled a player out of a meeting because he tested positive for the coronavirus and no one in the room f linched.
As Anthony Cirelli went into the now-familiar COVID-19 protocol, the twotime defending champions practiced with their goaltending coach and a emergency backup in net and prepared to play Montreal tonight in a Stanley Cup Final rematch without either of their NHL goalies or their coach on hand.
“It’s just the norm,” assistant Derek Lalonde said Monday. “Not trying to downplay it, but I just think it’s a reality of today’s world and today’s NHL.”
Hockey will return today after the league took an extended holiday break in the hope that virus cases will not continue to disrupt the season. While three more games this week were postponed — bringing the total to 70 this season — the NHL like other leagues will try to power through the latest twist in the pandemic with a possible boost on the way in the form of shorter absences for players and coaches who test positive.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday cut the recommended isolation period from 10 days to five, and other North American professional sports leagues have already moved in that direction. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said, “Obviously it will spur a review of the protocol” currently in place, which includes 10 days away for those who contract the virus and experience symptoms.
While many of the cases across hockey have been asymptomatic or mild, the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant has led to a rash of positive COVID-19 test results across the league’s 32 teams. Dozens more players entered virus protocol Monday, with minor leaguers taking their place and taxi squads added to keep the NHL season going amid concerns about the quality of the on-ice product.
“Unfortunate what’s going on around the league with a lot of teams having to deal with COVID issues right now, including ourselves, but I don’t think a lot is going to change moving forward here for the next couple weeks,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. “We do have to get some games in if we can do it safely, and we can do it where teams have adequate players in the lineup.”
Stamkos and his teammates were preparing to play without reigning playoff MVP goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, five other players and coach Jon Cooper. Montreal will also be without several players for the start of a three-game U.S. road trip; back home, Quebec has banned fans and all eyes are on virus restrictions in Canada that could further upend the season for a league with seven teams based north of the border.
The Blackhawks placed starting goaltender Marc-André Fleury in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols Monday, while the team’s next two games were postponed.
The virus continues to play a role on either side of it. Pittsburgh and Washington each added six players to the NHL COVID protocol list, and the Vegas Golden Knights found out they won’t have coach Peter DeBoer behind the bench for their game tonight at Los Angeles.
Washington is set to play again Wednesday against the Nashville Predators, who are dealing with their own virus absences, but the game is scheduled to go on as planned.
“It’s not about who’s out,” Nashville coach John Hynes said. “It’s about the players that are in and making sure we’re physically ready to play and mentally ready to play.”
The province of Manitoba capped ticketed crowds at 250, so any Winnipeg home games for at least the next two weeks would be played with no fans in attendance.
As of now, the Winter Classic between St. Louis and Minnesota is still scheduled to be played in front of a crowd of almost 40,000 at Target Field in Minneapolis on Saturday night in keeping with the league’s New Year’s Day tradition.
Kraken lose Tanev
The Seattle Kraken will be without forward Brandon Tanev for the rest of the season after he suffered a torn ACL in his knee, the team said.
Tanev was injured Dec. 18 against Edmonton and had sought a second opinion on the extent of the injury. The team said additional information on his recovery would be available following surgery.