COVID-19 is hitting hard these days … and it’s hitting hard in NHL locker rooms, including the Canadiens’ locker room, too.
Montreal management announced late Saturday that Artturi Lehkonen had been added to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list.
Lehkonen becomes the third Canadiens player to go through this protocol this season, after Brendan Gallagher and Sami Niku. The former general manager Marc Bergevin had also had to submit to this protocol.
This news comes during an eventful day in the Montreal camp, when Saturday morning’s training was canceled in Brossard.
Members of the organization are said to have exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 upon arriving at the club’s training center on Saturday morning, leading to the cancellation of training as a precaution.
With Saturday night’s game at the Bell Center against the Boston Bruins having already been postponed, the club are preparing for the next game, which is scheduled for Monday night in Long Island against the New York Islanders.
For now, the Canadian must hold training Sunday in Brossard before taking the plane Monday instead of Sunday, and prepare to face the Islanders. The Canadiens’ three games scheduled for next week in the New York region are still on the schedule.
In addition to the withdrawal of Lehkonen, the management of the Canadian announced Saturday at the end of the day that two other attackers, Joel Armia and Mathieu Perreault, found themselves on the list of injured club, already very long.
The Canadian is obviously not the only team to deal with health problems, in particular with the comeback of COVID-19 in arenas.
On Saturday alone, five of the ten games scheduled for the NHL schedule were postponed. Two games scheduled for Sunday, including a game involving the Toronto Maple Leafs, have also been postponed. In all, five clubs are closed by the Christmas party: the Bruins, Nashville Predators, Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers.
The NHL also announced on Saturday a tightening of its sanitary measures; In particular, players must wear the mask at all times on planes and avoid public places, such as bars and restaurants.
The pandemic is also affecting the situation of the Laval Rocket in the American League. Thus, the Rocket match scheduled for Saturday against the Syracuse Crunch has been postponed due to the COVID protocol that affects the Crunch. The Rocket’s next game is scheduled for December 29 in Laval.