The list of people in COVID protocol continues to grow as prior to their game against the Rangers tonight, the Kraken announced (Twitter link) that center Jared McCann and assistant coach Paul MacFarland have both entered the protocol. McCann is off to a nice start to his season, leading Seattle in points with three goals and four assists through their first eight games while logging 16:24 per night, the highest ATOI of his career. It’s the second time he has been in COVID protocol this season having been part of the group that was in there just before the regular season got underway.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- While Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom will accompany the team on their upcoming road trip, he won’t be taking part in any practices and will continue to work on his own, relays NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link). The veteran is eligible to be activated off LTIR on Saturday but if he is still just able to skate on his own, it stands to reason that he won’t be cleared to return at that time.
- The lower-body injury that took Avalanche winger Andre Burakovsky out of Saturday’s contest has left him listed as day-to-day, relays Peter Baugh of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 26-year-old is off to a slow start this season with just a goal and three assists in eight games. Baugh adds that winger Mikko Rantanen, who has missed two straight games with a lower-body injury of his own, is also listed as day-to-day.
@Brian – “McCann is off to a night start…” (Can turn off the bedroom light and hit the sack faster than the speed of dark!) :)
Knight start?
It’s almost as if Brian was talking to Siri instead of typing
@fburner88 – Yeah, I’ve brought that up with a couple of people who use those types of AIs. Some devices require a lot more training than others. And, unless you run the results through something like LanguageTool in a browser, or that type of proofreading plugin in an office suite product, you find out the hard way that the results can leave a lot to be desired.
@Brian – Thank you for the update.