The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
NHL DRAFT LOTTERY RESULTS
Maple Leafs forward Jason Spezza controls the puck in a Feb. 16game against Buffalo.
playoff to award the Stanley Cup. It’s understood that players, coaches and staff would be quarantined from the general public for the duration of the playoffs and tested regularly.
Until arriving in one of those cities as early as July 23 or 24, players and their families are still out in the real world and face the risk of exposure.
“You have a whole bunch of people in close proximity to each other for prolonged periods of time, they may be traveling together exposed
to other individuals that you don’t know who they’ve been exposed to,” Carolinas Medical Center medical director of infection prevention Katie Passaretti said. “Any time you’re bringing groups together and then sending them back out into the world, there’s potential for further spread if one of those individuals was asymptotically infected or early in the stages of symptomatic infection.”
The U.S. recorded 34,500 COVID-19 cases June 24, just shy of the peak of infections
set in late April.
“There’s lots of people everywhere testing positive,” said Spezza, who’s in his 17th NHL season. “Us as players, we realize there’s going to be some risk of a positive test, especially in the phases that we’re in right now.”
Voluntary workouts of up to six players on the ice at a time were able to begin June 8, with that limit increased to 12 this week amid stringent safety protocols. In other sports, Major League Baseball closed its training facilities in Florida and Arizona, and the NFLPA told its members to stop private workouts in light of rising coronavirus numbers in some places.
The Tampa Bay Lightning closed their facilities last week after three players and additional staff tested positive. The NHL announced 11 positives among more than 200 players tested.
“It’s definitely eye-opening to hear, but at the same time, looking back going into it, you certainly expect that to pop up,” Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk said. “You see more and more cases popping up across the league and that’s to be expected, as well. But at the same time, it’s still a little nervewrecking.”
Two weeks away from the scheduled start of camps and less than a month from when games might begin, some players still have questions.
“Obviously health and safety is the biggest,” Montreal goaltender Carey Price said. “Being able to come to a situation where you don’t have to worry about contracting COVID-19 is huge. To ‘bubble’ the players and feel safe in your work environment is going to be probably the most paramount.”
Players are expected to be tested daily once competition starts, and they will be isolated with each other. Even with frequent testing during camps, it seems to be incumbent on players, coaches, staff and those around them to be particularly vigilant away from hockey.