COVID-19 Protocol | Five names are added, the rules are relaxed

The COVID-19 outbreak does not appear to be slowing down for the Canadian. The team listed five more names in the protocol for people with or in contact with the virus on Tuesday.

Guillaume Lefrançois
Press

They are forwards Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Jesse Ylönen, defender David Savard, goalkeeper Samuel Montembeault and assistant coach Trevor Letowski.

The Habs suspended all activities on Saturday, after the third and final game of their trip to the southern United States. For now, this break goes until January 6, inclusive. The Canadian is not holding any training during this break, but players continue to be tested for COVID-19 on a daily basis, we are told.

The stop was aimed in particular at containing the spread of the virus in the locker room. On December 27, after the Christmas break, the Canadian put the names of six players and goalkeeper coach Eric Raymond on the list of absentees due to COVID-19.

Then, during the trip, seven names were added, forcing even Dominique Ducharme to employ an 18-man roster, rather than 20, for Saturday’s game against the Florida Panthers.

The team will play its next game on January 12 in Boston.

Relaxed rules

There are currently 22 names (20 players, 2 coaches) within the COVID-19 protocol at the Canadiens.

Among them, let us note that Artturi Lehkonen, Laurent Dauphin and Mike Hoffman still appear there even if they were registered there more than two weeks. We are told they are meeting there because their return to training has been interrupted. They will be there until they get the green light to return to the game.

An entry on this list does not mean that the person has contracted the virus: it can also be a close contact of an infected person. It is, for example, for this reason that Paul Byron was registered there, on December 29, and that he returned home directly from Tampa. However, he may have since contracted the virus.

That said, some players may have had hopes on Tuesday to be able to come back sooner than expected. Quebec has indeed reduced the duration of isolation to five days for people who are asymptomatic or whose symptoms have improved, if they are adequately vaccinated. Quebec is thus aligning itself with what has been announced in the last few days in the United States and in several Canadian provinces.

All NHL players except Detroit Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi are adequately vaccinated this season.

According to the new settings, those infected must still wear a mask and maintain a distance of two meters from others, within five days of the end of isolation.

Despite these rules, players should still be able to train and play matches for days 6-10 following their diagnosis. This is because the NHL protocols provide for the same obligation for players who benefit from the five-day quarantine.

This means that if the four players added on Tuesday no longer have symptoms in five days, they should be able to resume their activities in time for the January 12 meeting in Boston.

Encouraging for Ducharme

We can imagine that Dominique Ducharme will welcome these changes.

During the last trip, the Canadiens head coach was questioned a few times about the parameters that change from one team to another, according to the rules of each territory.

Thus, on December 30, the Habs faced the Carolina Hurricanes, who welcomed the return to the game of Jesper Fast just seven days after putting his name on the COVID-19 list. In short, the Hurricanes enjoyed an advantage to which the Canadian was not entitled.

Ducharme had recognized the “risk” of a two-speed NHL, “for the players as for the assistance”.

” [Mardi dernier] in Tampa, they were at 100% capacity. We play behind closed doors. There is also the return of the players. But you have to make sure that the guys who are positive come back in good physical condition. This will be on a case-by-case basis, and players should not come back too early and have consequences. ”