(Toronto) The Edmonton Oilers have indicated that the names of captain Connor McDavid, forward Derek Ryan and defenseman Tyson Barrie have been put on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
The announcement came hours before the Oilers are scheduled to play in Toronto against the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
McDavid and Ryan did not participate in the Oilers’ training session on Tuesday after testing positive. Team leaders were awaiting the results of further testing to determine their status for Wednesday’s duel.
McDavid had a negative result Monday before appearing in the game his team lost 4-1 to the Rangers in New York.
Meanwhile, the Oilers put forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ name on the injured list. Nugent-Hopkins’ case had been assessed on a daily basis since Saturday due to an injury the nature of which was not disclosed.
The Oilers also announced that forward Zack Kassian’s name has been removed from the COVID-19 protocol. Also, goalkeeper Ilya Konovalov was transferred to the reserve squad.
Goalkeeper Mike Smith is set to return to the game with an unspecified injury and is expected to be in net for the Oilers on Wednesday night.
Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews told reporters he plans to play in Wednesday’s game after taking part in practice.
As a preventive measure, Matthews had been kept away from his teammates in the previous two training sessions after testing positive for COVID-19 in a rapid antigen test on Monday, then negative in a PCR test Tuesday.