Predators Place Three In COVID Protocol, Activate Eight
There was plenty of COVID-related activity for the Predators on Monday. The team announced that defenseman Roman Josi, center Tommy Novak, and winger Colton Sissons have all been placed in COVID protocol. However, they also got several players back from protocol in wingers Nick Cousins and Philip Tomasino, center Mikael Granlund and Ryan Johansen, and defensemen Mark Borowiecki and Ben Harpur. Josi, Novak, and Sissons will be out for at least the next ten days as a result; today’s announcement from the CDC that cuts the quarantine period from ten days to five doesn’t automatically apply to the NHL.
Josi is easily the biggest loss of the three for the Predators as he’s their leading scorer with 29 points in 30 games while averaging just shy of 25 minutes per game. Sissons isn’t a minor loss either as he’s logging nearly 16 minutes a night on the wing while chipping in with 13 points in 29 contests.
The returns of Granlund and Johansen should certainly help Nashville’s offense. Granlund is averaging just shy of a point per game with 27 in 28 games, sitting second behind Josi in team scoring. As for Johansen, he is having a nice bounce-back campaign with 24 points in 27 contests.
On top of these moves, the Predators assigned wingers Matt Luff and Michael McCarron to the taxi squad. Both players had been up in recent weeks to cover for injuries and absences before hitting COVID protocol themselves but with more players returning than leaving today, there wasn’t room on the NHL roster for them to be placed back there.
Oliver Bjorkstrand Enters COVID Protocol
Dec 27: According to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, Roslovic, Carlsson, and Andrew Peeke were all back at practice today after previously being in the protocol. Unfortunately, Oliver Bjorkstrand has taken their place and is now unavailable.
Dec 19: As the spread of COVID across the NHL rolls on, with over 100 players currently in the league’s protocol, the latest additions come from the Columbus Blue Jackets’ locker room. The team has announced that forwards Boone Jenner and Jack Roslovic and defenseman Gabriel Carlsson have entered the NHL COVID Protocol.
The Blue Jackets additionally made the decision to cancel practice on Sunday, citing an “abundance of caution”. However, there has been no indication that any plans have changed surrounding their travel plans with a road game in Buffalo coming up on Monday. While other teams have been shut down when multiple COVID placements occur, it seems that Columbus will move forward as planned.
However, they will do so without several key players. Jenner is not only the captain of the Jackets, but also leads the team with 11 goals and 324 face-off wins. Roslovic may have been the top candidate to replace Jenner but will also be out for an indeterminate amount of time. As for Carlsson, the depth defenseman has taken on greater importance with Adam Boqvist and Dean Kukan sidelined by injury, but will now join them on the shelf.
East Notes: Rodrigues, Coyle, Marner, Blue Jackets
The Penguins have placed winger Evan Rodrigues in COVID protocol, a team spokesperson confirmed to Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The 28-year-old has been one of the biggest surprises around the league this season, going from someone who had previously been non-tendered to a regular spot on their top line and he has rewarded them with an impressive showing offensively, sitting second in team scoring with 10 goals and 13 assists in 30 games. He will now be out for at least the next ten days.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- The Bruins have lost a player to COVID protocol as the team announced that forward Charlie Coyle has been placed in protocols. The 29-year-old sits fifth in team scoring with seven goals and seven assists in 26 games. Coyle has been trying to fill David Krejci’s spot on Boston’s second line after the long-time Boston veteran decided to play back at home in the Czech Extraliga this season.
- Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner returned to practice today for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury earlier this month, relays David Alter of The Hockey News (Twitter link). Worth noting is that while Marner is currently on LTIR (which has allowed Toronto to stay cap-compliant among other players being brought up) is that postponed games count towards the 10 games a player must miss while on there so Toronto’s postponements won’t automatically delay Marner’s return.
- The Blue Jackets welcomed a trio of players back to practice today as Aaron Portzline of The Athletic notes (Twitter link) that winger Patrik Laine plus defensemen Adam Boqvist and Dean Kukan have all resumed skating. Laine has been out with an oblique injury since early November after getting off to a good start to his final season of RFA eligibility with ten points in nine games. As for the blueliners, Boqvist suffered an upper-body injury two weeks ago while Kukan fractured his wrist in late October.
Red Wings Add Two, Remove Two From COVID Protocol
The Red Wings have lost a pair of players to COVID protocol but have also welcomed two back as the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Lucas Raymond and defenseman Nick Leddy have been placed into protocol while winger Robby Fabbri and center Michael Rasmussen have both been activated and placed on the active roster.
Raymond is off to a very impressive start to his rookie season and is an early contender for the Calder Trophy after recording 10 goals and 18 assists in 31 games placing him second in scoring on Detroit behind only Dylan Larkin. As for Leddy, he has helped to stabilize their back end, logging nearly 22 minutes per game which places him third on the team in that category.
Fabbri returns after last suiting up on December 14th which also happened to be the day that he signed a new three-year extension. He has 14 points in 29 games this season including eight goals which puts him in the top five in that category on the Red Wings. Meanwhile, Rasmussen has held down a regular spot in Detroit’s lineup this season, picking up 10 points in 29 games while averaging 15:28 per game, the highest ATOI of his career.
The Red Wings are scheduled to return to game action on Wednesday against the Islanders with the standard caveat that the schedule is subject to change if further COVID-related postponements are deemed necessary.
Sabres Place Three In COVID Protocol
The Sabres have announced that head coach Don Granato along with center Dylan Cozens and Mark Jankowski have all been placed in COVID protocol. They added that all three are currently asymptomatic although under the current NHL protocols, all three will miss at least the next three days.
Cozens is off to a good start to his sophomore season, collecting eight goals and seven assists in 30 games, good for sixth in scoring on the Sabres. Meanwhile, Jankowski was recently converted to an NHL contract and had played in four games since then, picking up an assist while logging nearly 13 minutes a night in ice time. The two join Zemgus Girgensons and Vinnie Hinostroza as those that are currently unavailable while Granato is one of eight head coaches currently in COVID protocol.
Buffalo is currently slated to return to the ice on Wednesday against New Jersey unless there are further changes made to the schedule with a decision on that front expected later today.
Stars Place Five Players In COVID Protocol
Dallas has returned from their holiday break with a sizable batch of COVID-positive tests as well. The Stars announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Miro Heiskanen, center Radek Faksa, plus wingers Jason Robertson, Michael Raffl, and Joel Kiviranta have all been placed into COVID protocol along with two support staff members. They will all now be out for at least the next ten days.
Heiskanen is obviously a significant loss as he is their top defenseman. The 22-year-old has four goals and 14 assists in 28 games this season while leading the Stars in ATOI at 24:32 per game. With Jani Hakanpaa also recently entering COVID protocol, Dallas will need to bring up a blueliner from AHL Texas.
They’ll also have to recall several forwards as they were down to 11 on the active roster with three of their active players entering protocol today (Kiviranta is currently on IR with an upper-body injury). Robertson sits second on the team in scoring with 10 goals and 15 assists in 23 games and is the only Star averaging more than a point per game on the season. Faksa has been limited to just two goals in 27 contests but has won an impressive 57% of his faceoffs while Raffl has eight points in 28 games on the season.
Dallas is next scheduled to take to the ice on Wednesday against Colorado pending any other adjustments to the schedule.
Lightning Place Five In COVID Protocol
The COVID test results are in for the Lightning and the end result is that they’ll be missing several players for the next little while. Bryan Burns of Tampa Bay’s team website relays (Twitter link) that goaltenders Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott, center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, and assistant coach Rob Zettler have all been placed in COVID protocol.
As is the case with anyone who enters COVID protocol, they will all miss at least the next ten days.
Vasilevskiy is certainly a notable loss for Tampa Bay as he is off to another fine start to his season with a 2.14 GAA along with a .928 SV% in 24 starts. Not having Elliott available either means that two of their AHL netminders – Maxime Lagace, Hugo Alnefelt, and Amir Miftakhov – will need to be brought up and only Lagace has limited NHL experience.
As for Sergachev, his output is quite similar to his pace from last season as he has two goals and a dozen assists in 30 games while averaging 21:57 per game, the third-highest ATOI on the Lightning. Unless Erik Cernak is ready to return from his injury, they’ll need to recall someone from AHL Syracuse to cover his spot as well. Bellemare is in his first season with Tampa Bay after coming over from Colorado and has chipped in with three goals and four assists in what has basically been a checking role.
As things stand, Tampa Bay is set to return to action on Tuesday against Montreal.
Maple Leafs Place Jake Muzzin In COVID Protocol
NHL players haven’t been tested for COVID by their teams since they left for their holiday break but a handful of players still entered COVID protocol in recent days. Teams are set to return for testing at 2 PM local time today with practices to follow soon after but before even getting to that point, the Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Jake Muzzin has been placed in protocol.
The 32-year-old has had a quiet year by his standards offensively, notching just one goal and eight assists in 30 games. However, he’s second on the team in ice time per game at 21:24 per game; only fellow blueliner Morgan Rielly plays more and he just recently entered protocol as well.
In fact, Toronto is now up to 14 players that are currently ineligible to play with Muzzin out for at least the next 10 days. Some of the earlier placements will soon be able to return but after quarantining for that long, they will need a few days to get their conditioning back to game readiness. Accordingly, while the Maple Leafs are next set to play against Pittsburgh on Wednesday, it’s hard to envision that game going forward. More updates for the schedule across the league are expected later today.
NHL To Shut Down From December 22-25
The outbreak of COVID-19 cases across the NHL has finally come to a head. The league has announced they will postpone the five games remaining on December 23, essentially lengthening the holiday break from December 22-25. Teams will report back to their facilities on December 26 and games will resume the following day.
While many of the games originally scheduled for the rest of this week have already been postponed, the early shutdown will mean that the five games still on the docket for Thursday, December 23, will now be postponed as well. That includes Flyers-Penguins, Capitals-Islanders, Stars-Blackhawks, Lightning-Coyotes, and Kings-Knights. The two games scheduled for tomorrow, Capitals-Flyers and Lightning-Knights, will proceed as scheduled before operations are suspended on Wednesday.
Rather than hold to the initial holiday break of December 24-26, players and staff will return to action a day early to resume testing. In addition to games, practice, and all other team activities being suspended during the shutdown, testing will also not occur, but the league will be eager to check in on its players before returning to action. Friedman notes that all players and staff will require a negative COVID test before re-entering team facilities.
With even more games being postponed and the mounting pressure on the NHL and its players to pull out of the 2022 Winter Olympics, with rumors abound that this decision has already been made, Bally Sports’ Andy Strickland reports that the league will be forced to use the planned Olympic break to instead make up the numerous games they have lost over the past couple of weeks. The league could address this plan and Olympic intentions when announcing the shutdown.
Seattle’s Adam Larsson Enters COVID Protocol
The names continue to pile up in Seattle. The latest addition to the COVID Protocol is defenseman Adam Larsson, the team announced. The Kraken have already seen their next two games postponed, with Tuesday’s match-up with the Arizona Coyotes delayed by an announcement earlier today based on the already existing cases in the Seattle locker room.
Larsson becomes the fourth player and third defenseman in three days to enter the protocol for Seattle. Since they played last on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers – who are dealing with considerable COVID issues of their own – the Kraken have lost Jamie Oleksiak, Carson Soucy, and now Larsson from the blue line, as well as Yanni Gourde and Riley Sheahan up front. With this many COVID placements over so short a time, the outbreak likely isn’t over in Seattle either.
The Kraken play next in one week, on Monday the 27th, on the road against the nearby Vancouver Canucks. If Larsson has tested positive he will miss a minimum of ten days and will still be out of the lineup by that point. The team would be missing their overall and shorthanded ice time leader. It would be a difficult loss for a club that is still looking to find their stride.