Capitals, Hurricanes facing coronavirus issues

NHL: Washington Capitals at Detroit Red Wings

The National Hockey League is currently dealing with significant coronavirus issues facing the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals. At this time, three Hurricanes games are needing to be rescheduled, while the Capitals are being disciplined for violating coronavirus protocols.

According to ESPN on Wednesday, three Hurricanes games have been postponed because five players are on the COVID-19 list. They are captain Jordan Staal of Thunder Bay, Ontario, left winger Warren Foegele of Markham, Ontario, center Jordan Martinook of Brandon, Manitoba, defenseman Jaccob Slavin of Erie, CO, and right winger Teuvo Teravainen of Helsinki, Finland.

By being on the list, one must realize that there is no guarantee that the five players on the Hurricanes have coronavirus. They could have had it, or been in close contact with someone who did. There is a lot of ambiguity and confusion regarding the how and why players land on the list, and the bottom line is not enough information is given by the NHL for everyone to make opinions and conclusions. What we do know is that the Hurricanes game from this past Tuesday against the Nashville Predators, and their games Thursday and Saturday against the Florida Panthers have been postponed until further notice.

This will be the second time the Panthers have been impacted. They had two games against the Dallas Stars postponed because of coronavirus at the beginning of the season.

The Capitals meanwhile, were fined $100,000 for violating the NHL coronavirus protocols. According to the Associated Press, four Russian Washington Capitals spent time together in a hotel room. They were Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Samsonov, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Dmitry Orlov. All four players have been added to the coronavirus list. As in the Hurricanes’ case, we have no idea whatsoever how long they will be out for. The Capitals next game is to be Thursday evening when they host the Buffalo Sabres.

 

 

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