Boston Bruins Place Taylor Hall, Curtis Lazar In COVID Protocol
The Boston Bruins announced today via a team release that forwards Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
The news comes a few hours after the league announced that the Bruins and Nashville Predators will be shut down through the holiday break. Boston is already dealing with a long list of COVID absences that includes Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Craig Smith, and Jeremy Swayman, as well as three other players and two staff members.
Boston’s next game is scheduled for Monday, December 27, against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are 7-2-1 in their past ten games and winners of six straight.
Hall hasn’t exactly struggled in his first full year in a Bruins uniform, but he hasn’t performed up to the level he showcased in a 16-game stint last season after Boston acquired him at the trade deadline from the Buffalo Sabres. He has 14 points through 26 games, the same amount he had in just 16 with Boston last year.
Lazar was also acquired in that trade with Buffalo, and he’s reprising his role in the bottom-six forward group. He missed some time at the beginning of the season but had been playing consistently when healthy. He has two goals and three assists for five points through 20 games while averaging a reasonable 12:05 per game.
If both Hall and Lazar are confirmed positives, and there are no further postponements, their status for the game against Pittsburgh remains in doubt.
Arizona Coyotes Place Crouse, Beagle, Galchenyuk In COVID Protocol
Dec 17: Alex Galchenyuk has also been placed in the COVID protocol, taking another forward out of the mix for the Coyotes.
Dec 16: The Arizona Coyotes announced today that forwards Lawson Crouse and Jay Beagle have entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
Beagle was already out of the lineup with a lower-body injury and has just one goal in 21 games this season. It’s a big blow to the team to lose Crouse as well, who’s been one of the team’s more productive players with 11 points in 28 games. He’s one of just five Coyotes with more than 10 points in 2021-22.
They join Johan Larsson, Dmitrij Jaskin, and Jakob Chychrun as players unavailable for the team, although Crouse and Beagle are the only ones in COVID protocol.
The team’s next game is on the road against Anaheim on Friday, but it’s worth noting Crouse played just last night against the Rangers.
Andre Burakovsky, J.T. Compher Enter COVID Protocol
A day of additions to the league’s COVID protocol list continues. Per The Denver Post’s Mike Chambers, Colorado Avalanche forwards Andre Burakovsky and J.T. Compher entered the NHL’s COVID protocol today.
They join defenseman Devon Toews on the list. He was added two days ago.
Due to salary cap restraints, the Avalanche will play a skater short tonight (11 forwards, 6 defensemen) against the Nashville Predators, who are dealing with a COVID outbreak of their own.
Both Burakovsky and Compher are giant parts of Colorado’s scoring depth this season. They’re both scoring at rates higher than 0.70 points per game, with Compher netting 11 points in 15 games and Burakovsy netting 21 in 25.
With Kurtis MacDermid moving up to play forward for tonight’s game, their defense will be stretched thin. Jordan Gross will be making his Avalanche debut, and young Justin Barron will play in just his second career NHL game.
Bell Centre Won’t Have Fans For Thursday’s Canadiens Game
As originally reported by RDS’s Patrick Friolet, there won’t be any fans in attendance for tonight’s Montreal Canadiens game at the Bell Centre versus the Philadelphia Flyers at the request of Quebec public health officials.
This is the first game this season for which attendance will be limited. The news comes just a day after the government of Ontario announced they’ll impose a 50% capacity limit at major events, affecting the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.
It’s unclear as to how long the moratorium on fans attending Canadiens games will last. At this time, it only applies to Thursday night’s game. A release from the team states that they’ll provide an update on the status of their Saturday game against Boston tomorrow.
The announcement came just two hours before puck drop, with the Canadiens sending out an email to ticket holders.
The release states that the team has secured an assurance that beginning in January, they’ll be permitted to have at least partial attendance back at the Bell Centre. Tonight’s and Saturday’s games are their last home games of 2021.
Drew Doughty Placed In COVID Protocol
A seemingly never-ending stream of COVID-19 news this week continues, as the Los Angeles Kings announced today that defenseman Drew Doughty entered the league’s COVID-19 protocol. Additionally, the team placed Andreas Athanasiou on injured reserve retroactive to December 14.
It’s been a tough season health-wise for Doughty, but when he’s been in the lineup, he’s having one of his best seasons in recent memory. Limited to only 11 games this season after a knee injury early in the year, Doughty had 13 points in 11 games, the best scoring pace of his career. He now joins Mikey Anderson, Alexander Edler, and Sean Walker as the unavailable defensemen for the Kings.
The Kings are scheduled to play Florida tonight, who’s facing COVID issues as well.
Athanasiou is out with a lower-body injury, continuing what’s been a successful but injury-riddled campaign for him as well. When in the lineup, he’s been a productive depth piece for the team with six points in 11 games. He’ll miss at least the next five days due to the retroactive nature of the injured reserve placement.
Colorado Avalanche Sign Cal Burke To NHL Deal
The Colorado Avalanche added a contract today, converting Cal Burke‘s AHL deal into a one-year, two-way NHL deal. Financial terms are currently undisclosed.
Burke, a Notre Dame graduate, signed with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles in 2020-21 after going undrafted through his collegiate career. He had a slow start to his professional career with just two goals and nine points in 33 games, but he’s taken a huge step forward this season with 14 points in 19 games.
The 24-year-old Massachusetts native still has to compete with a lot of forward depth in the Avalanche organization before getting an NHL shot, though. There are five forwards with the Eagles who have gotten into NHL action with Colorado this season.
It’s most likely that Burke stays in the AHL this season barring any unforeseen circumstance, but the contract puts him into restricted free agent status with Colorado at the end of the season.
Florida Panthers Recall Four Players
With a lengthy injured list and five players on COVID-19 protocol, the Florida Panthers recalled four players from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers today, per Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards.
Three of the callups have at least a handful of NHL games under their belt at this point (forward Grigori Denisenko and defensemen Matt Kiersted and Chase Priskie). Forward Cole Schwindt was also recalled and could make his NHL debut if Thursday night’s game against Los Angeles happens as scheduled.
Florida has a heavily depleted roster. Their COVID protocol list includes Carter Verhaeghe, Ryan Lomberg, Sam Bennett, Brandon Montour, and Radko Gudas. That’s bad enough on its own, but captain Aleksander Barkov, Mason Marchment, Noel Acciari, Markus Nutivaara, and Maxim Mamin are all unavailable due to injury. Gustav Forsling is out with an undisclosed illness.
Despite that, though, they still sit second in the Atlantic Division with an 18-6-4 record. They’ve dropped three out of four, though, as the absences begin to take their toll.
Buffalo’s Robert Hagg Out Month-To-Month With Lower-Body Injury
The Buffalo Sabres announced in today’s injury report that defenseman Robert Hagg is out month-to-month with a lower-body injury. Hagg was injured in the second period of the team’s last game on Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets, playing 16 shifts and 11:30 before leaving.
Hagg is in his first season with the Sabres after the team acquired him from the Philadelphia Flyers this summer in the Rasmus Ristolainen trade. He’s put up results consistent with the rest of his career in a slightly increased role, seeing his highest ice time average since his rookie season in 2017-18.
Through 25 games, Hagg has a goal and four assists for five points and a -12 rating.
He’d most recently been playing on his off-side on a pairing with Jacob Bryson. Colin Miller, who’s seen some time in the press box recently despite putting up a respectable 11 points in 26 games (while averaging 20:01 per game), will slot back into the lineup.
It’s not all bad news on the injury front for the Sabres, however. New acquisition Alex Tuch is now listed as week-to-week and is no longer practicing in a non-contact jersey. He could look to make his Sabres debut before the New Year after having shoulder surgery last offseason.
Team Canada’s Alex Pietrangelo Uncertain About Olympic Participation
In a piece by David Schoen of the Las Vegas-Review Journal, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who was one of the three players initially named to Team Canada’s roster for the 2022 Winter Olympics, now says he’s uncertain if he’ll participate in the Games.
Pietrangelo’s concerns come after the International Olympic Committee confirmed a three-to-five-week quarantine period for a positive COVID-19 test. As Pietrangelo notes in the Schoen report, he has a young family and multiple kids and, understandably, doesn’t want to risk being away from his family for that long.
It’s a recent memory for a lot of NHLers, who were forced into a similar situation for the bubble-style 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. After the fact, many players expressed concerns and regrets about being away from their families for such a long length of time.
If he does proceed to opt-out, Pietrangelo would be the first confirmed member of an Olympic roster to do. Golden Knight teammate Robin Lehner said publicly last week that he wouldn’t be attending, but was not one of the first three players named to his native Sweden’s Olympic roster.
Obviously, losing a player of Pietrangelo’s caliber won’t be great for Team Canada. However, assuming they still have a large pool of NHLers to select from, they still prove to have the most dynamic puck-moving group of defensemen in the tournament.
Pietrangelo is third on the Golden Knights with 18 points in 26 games this season.
Jonas Johansson Placed On Waivers
Per TSN’s Chris Johnston, the Colorado Avalanche have placed netminder Jonas Johansson on waivers.
The move isn’t surprising in the least bit after the team recalled Pavel Francouz from his conditioning loan today. Francouz is gearing up to dress for an NHL game for the first time in over a year.
After a decent end to last season when Colorado acquired him from the Buffalo Sabres, Johansson’s struggled mightily this year. Behind an injured but still sound Avalanche team, he’s posted just a .880 save percentage in nine games played.
Considering his historical struggles at the NHL level, it’s unlikely Johansson gets claimed on waivers. However, he’s one of the better third-string goalies in the league and he does now have 30 NHL games under his belt.