Three teams in complete shutdown until Christmas. Big names that are added to the “COVID list”. Matches postponed. A first duel behind closed doors. Teams that reduce the arena tonnage …
The surge in COVID-19 cases in the NHL continued on Friday. Renowned players have been added to the list of players on forced leave due to COVID-19 (a reminder: these players do not necessarily all have the virus, but can be close contacts).
The Toronto Maple Leafs listed the names of forwards John Tavares and Alex Kerfoot on it. In Edmonton, the Oilers added the name Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, while in Washington, the Capitals did the same with Nicklas Backstrom.
For now, the activities of three teams have been suspended at least until Christmas: the Calgary Flames, the Florida Panthers and the Colorado Avalanche.
In the case of the Flames, the decision was obvious, as there are essentially four players left who are not in isolation. “We have a very good team left to play three against three! Flames general manager Brad Treliving joked on video conference with Calgary media on Friday.
But the Avalanche played Thursday despite the absence of five players, all on the sidelines due to COVID-19. Among them: number one goalie Darcy Kuemper and ultra-spectacular defender Cale Makar. In the opposing camp, the Predators had to deal with absentees, especially support players, but their coaching staff was also on the sidelines! They were therefore led by the coaches of the school club.
“It’s not good for hockey when five or six guys are missing on one end. It will be up to the league to decide if we continue or if we stop. It’s not ideal, ”said Jonathan Drouin, after the CH game on Thursday.
Mild symptoms
On the health side, it seems to be fine, however. The Flames’ medical director, Dr Ian Auld, said the majority of players had either mild symptoms or no symptoms. He revealed that four to six players had suffered from “moderate” symptoms, “chills, fever or fatigue”, symptoms which went away “in 36 to 48 hours”.
For its part, Treliving admitted that members of the players’ families had also been infected, without going into details.
The Dr Auld recalled that “with the other variants, the risk of transmission on the rink was negligible. With Omicron, we do not yet know the data ”. The doctor also clarified that three of the team’s cases were of the Omicron variant. However, he did not receive all the results. “I tell myself that if there are three, there are surely more, if these are not all our cases,” he admitted.
What urgency?
Even before this week’s explosion of cases, players had publicly expressed doubts about their attendance at the Olympics. Connor McDavid and Alex Pietrangelo, who already have a place if the NHL players ever go to Beijing, were hesitant. Before Thursday’s Flyers-Canadian duel, it was the turn of Sean Couturier, whose place is not guaranteed, but who will be part of the discussions.
“Not necessarily because of COVID, but with everything that surrounds [les Jeux] “, he said. The New Brunswicker added the diplomatic boycott of Canada and the United States to the factors that made him hesitate. “If we’re there, who do we go to if we have any problems?” […] Personally, that scares me. ”
In short, skepticism is growing about the NHL’s presence at the Olympics, whether because of player fears or postponed games that will have to be resumed. The Flames, for example, will have six to resume since they have been on hiatus for a week already. In the current calendar, duels are already scheduled until April 29. We can guess that the NHL will not want to start the playoffs again in mid-May …
From a logistical point of view, there are therefore arguments for the NHL to ignore the Olympics. She has until January 10 to announce it without financial penalty. If this scenario is confirmed, a time slot from February 3 to 22 will open to reschedule meetings.
From a health point of view, stopping activities would probably not harm the slowdown in the progression of COVID-19 in teams. “I’ve been following the situation for months for the Flames. I have never seen such a level of transmission ”, admitted the Dr Auld.
And from an economic standpoint, Thursday’s closed-door game at the Bell Center brought in exactly zero dollars at the box office. The Maple Leafs and Senators can only sell 50 percent of their tickets, while the Canucks and Jets announced Friday that they will emulate them starting next week.
Hockey stakeholders are therefore wondering what is the urgency of the NHL to move forward with games in the current context. Former Canadian Nick Cousins even posed the question openly on Twitter on Thursday.
We will know fairly quickly if his grievances will be heard.