Hertl enters COVID-19 protocol
League postpones Thursday’s game between Sharks, Knights
San Jose Sharks forward Tomas Hertl has entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol, the league announced, resulting in the postponement of the team’s game Thursday with the Vegas Golden Knights at SAP Center.
The NHL also announced Wednesday that the Sharks’ practice facility, Solar4America Ice in San Jose, has been closed, effective immediately, and will remain shut down until further notice. Sharks players have been told to remain home except to continue to do daily testing.
Hertl, 27, has played in all 17 Sharks games this season. Now in his eighth season with the team, Hertl has six goals and five assists.
The NHL said it is now in the process of reviewing and revising the Sharks’ regular season schedule. As of early Wednesday afternoon, the Sharks were still scheduled to play the St. Louis Blues at home on Saturday.
The Sharks said in a statement that “despite having only one player currently impacted, the decision to cancel the team’s practice and training activities on Wednesday, and postpone the game on Thursday was made out of an abundance of caution.”
The San Jose Barracuda’s game with the Bakersfield Condors on Thursday, slated to take place at Solar4America Ice, was also postponed by the AHL to an undetermined date.
Placement on the NHL’s COVID
list can indicate a number of things, including an initial positive test, a period of isolation for symptomatic individuals or required quarantine as a high-risk close contact. Other reasons are isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or quarantine for travel.
The Sharks’ last game was Monday at home against the Minnesota Wild. The Sharks lost the game 6-2, leaving them with a 7-8-2 record and in seventh place in the West Division. The Sharks returned for practice at their facility the following day.
Prior to Wednesday, the Sharks this season had just one unavailable player due to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
Forward Max Letunov began the season on the list, but was cleared days later and returned to the Barracuda.
Earlier this month, the NHL introduced new measures intended to curb what had been a rising amount of players on the COVID list.
The new directives included the removal of the glass panels behind the team benches to improve airflow, and forbidding players from entering arenas until 1 hour and 45 minutes before game time unless they needed to arrive early to receive treatment.
All 31 teams also needed to try and provide six feet of space between people in the locker room, and all team meetings must become virtual. The Sharks, when they returned to SAP Center on Feb. 12, found that their lockers have been distanced from one another.
Santa Clara County lifted its contact sports ban for pro and college sports Jan. 25. To continue to play and practice at home, the Sharks have to follow directives set by health officials from Santa Clara County.
Besides wearing masks when not actively engaged in athletic activity and undergoing regular PCR testing, athletes must remain at home or at facilities used for professional activities, except as necessary to seek medical care or other emergency services. Athletes may travel between their place of residence and facilities used for professional activities.
In other words, pro and college athletes in the county had to conduct themselves as if they were in mini-bubbles, leaving their homes only to go to their place of employment to play or to practice, but not to go out in the community.
Thirty-six NHL games have now been postponed this season because of virus-related issues. Four other Dallas Stars games have been postponed because of weather-related issues in Texas.
The Sharks have already had a handful of scheduled games rearranged this season. Late last month, the Sharks’ Feb. 1 and 3 games vs. the Golden Knights had to be postponed because of COVID issues. Vegas in total had three games postponed and did not practice for seven days because of the virus.
The first game of that series was rescheduled for Feb. 13, a game the Sharks lost 3-1. The other game was supposed to be played Thursday. Other Sharks games affected were the Feb. 13 game vs. Anaheim (moved to April 6), the Feb. 26 game vs. St. Louis (moved to March 8) and an April 23 game vs. Minnesota was played on Monday.
The NHL now has eight players on the COVID-19 list. Four of them are members of the Philadelphia Flyers. As of Feb. 13, the league had a season-high 59 players on the list.
Prior to Wednesday, the total number of players who had spent at least one day on the COVID list was 126.