No more positive tests for Sharks
Tomas Hertl remained the only San Jose Sharks player unavailable to play due to the NHL’s COVID protocol, potentially allowing the team to resume practice as soon as today and play the St. Louis Blues as scheduled this weekend.
Hertl appeared on the NHL’s COVID-19 list for the second straight day Thursday as the Sharks’ training facility in San Jose remained closed. Players only arrived for testing, as their game Thursday at SAP Center with the Vegas Golden Knights remains postponed to a still unknown date.
The Sharks in a statement Thursday said no additional tests have come back as confirmed positives. If players and staff members continue to test negative, the NHL and the NHLPA have given approval for the Sharks to resume practice today. If that happens, Saturday’s game with
the Blues will move forward as scheduled.
The Sharks also said the San Jose Barracuda, their AHL affiliate, have received no positive test results and are also scheduled to practice today and host the Ontario Reign on Saturday at Sharks Ice.
Hertl is just the second Sharks player to appear on the list this season and the first since the team began to play games Jan. 14. Maxim Letunov, a forward, began the season on the list but was cleared days after and returned to the Barracuda.
The Sharks could be without Hertl’s services for several more days.
Per NHL protocols, if a player tests positive, he enters isolation and the team begins contact tracing. Another test is then taken and if it comes back positive, then it is considered a confirmed positive and contact tracing continues. The player is required to isolate until medical clearance is obtained.
Per Santa Clara County protocols, athletes, personnel, and officials who test positive but do not develop symptoms must remain in isolation for 10 days from the date the specimen was collected for their positive test.
The county’s protocols are more complex for those same individuals who test positive and develop symptoms. First, they may end their isolation 10 days after their symptoms appeared, and, secondly, after 24 hours have passed without a fever with no aid of medications. There also has to have been improvement of all other symptoms.
Losing Hertl for an extended amount of time would be a significant blow to a Sharks team that is outside of the playoff picture.
Hertl is the Sharks’ third-leading scorer with 11 points in 17 games and as the team’s second-line center, is second among all forwards in average time on ice at over 19 minutes per game. He is also the Sharks’ leader in faceoff percentage 53.4 among all players who have taken at least 20 draws.
Once the Sharks do resume playing, an already compact schedule figures to become even busier.
The Sharks (7-8-2) as of now are scheduled to play 17 games in March, including 11 at home. They then finish the regular season with 21 games over the last 38 days. During the last two-plus months, they play games on back-to-back nights eight times.
As of Thursday morning, the Sharks are tied with Anaheim for seventh place in the eight-team Pacific Division with 16 points, and are alone in seventh with a .471 points percentage.
The Sharks’ game Thursday was supposed to be their second of an eightgame homestand. After Saturday, the Sharks are scheduled to play Colorado on Monday and Wednesday, Vegas on March 5 and 6 and the Blues again on March 8.