Hurricanes will play Thursday against the Red Wings, despite multiple COVID-19 cases
There was some good news for the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday: No one was added to NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
More good news: The Canes’ scheduled home game Thursday against the Detroit Red Wings will be played. That decision was made a day after the Canes’ road game at Minnesota was postponed because of the Canes’ COVID issues.
And even more good news: The Canes are being allowed to bring all six players and the trainer in the COVID-19 protocol back to Raleigh on Thursday.
Canes president and general manager Don Waddell said the Hurricanes would play with 16 skaters against the Red Wings, but then allowed to go to a full 18 skaters after playing one game short with 16 players under NHL rules.
“We all talked about this before the season and we knew this was going to happen,” Waddell said in an interview. “We’re the first team to face it in this way, and I’m sure we won’t be the last.
“It’s a good challenge. Other than playing short (Thursday) we’ll get a chance to see some of the young players and see where our depth is. Yes, we’re going to have to find a way to score some goals, but I think we’re going to be OK. I feel pretty confident the roster we put out there will be competitive.”
It has been a rough stretch of days for Carolina. First, forwards Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis entered the COVID protocol Monday. Aho had been held out of Sunday’s game in Vancouver, but then tested positive for the coronavirus. Then, Jarvis and a team trainer, who has not been named, entered the protocol.
The Canes, after four games in Canada, were to finish their road trip Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild. But after further COVID testing, forwards Jordan Staal, Andrei Svechnikov, Steven Lorentz, and defenseman Ian Cole were placed in the protocol.
Waddell said Wednesday that after discussions with an infectious doctor in British Columbia, Aho, Jarvis and the trainer were given the go-ahead to leave in an emergency ambulance Thursday and driven to Seattle. A charter flight will be sent Thursday to pick them up, then the four in Minnesota, and return all seven to Raleigh where they will finish out the quarantine.
The new positives came just as defensemen Brett Pesce and Tony DeAngelo were set to return to the lineup after their stint on the protocol list. The two D-men had not played since Nov. 28 against the Washington Capitals, missing seven games.
There will be call-ups from the Chicago Wolves to add forwards for Thursday’s game. Waddell said teams are allowed to add a player with a salary up to $1 million as a first regular recall, then add other emergency recalls who make less than $850,000 at the NHL level without salary-cap issues.
The Canes did not hold a practice Wednesday, spending time going through another round of testing and awaiting a decision from the NHL on Thursday’s game. The Canes announced mid-day that forward Andrew Poturalski had been reassigned to the Wolves of the NHL and defenseman Jalen Chatfield was placed on injured reserve. Poturalski was recalled later in the day.
The Canes will go through testing again Thursday morning.
The COVID situation in the NHL continues to worsen exponentially. The Calgary Flames added more players and staff members to the COVID list Wednesday, and have 27 cases in all. Boston Bruins star Patrice Bergeron entered the protocol.
The Red Wings said Wednesday that forwards Robbi Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen have been placed in the protocol.
The Red Wings game, if played as scheduled, will mark the return to PNC Arena of former Canes goalie Alex Nedeljkovic. Of his former Canes teammates, Nedeljkovic told the media Tuesday: “Hopefully, they’re all doing well. Obviously, they’re sick but they’re doing OK. Nobody’s too ill.”
Nedeljkovic had 33 saves and was the winning goalie Tuesday as the Red Wings topped the New York Islanders 2-1 to end a three-game losing streak.The Islanders were without Mathew Barzal, who tested positive and now is in quarantine in a Detroit hotel.
This story was originally published December 15, 2021 at 1:00 PM.
