As much as sports leagues have tried to prevent Covid-19 from impacting their seasons, the virus is still managing to be a nuisance.
On the same day the Green Bay Packers announced that quarterback Aaron Rodgers won’t play against the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday because he tested positive for Covid-19, the Pittsburgh Penguins said Sidney Crosby also tested positive.
NHL games aren’t being cancelled, but some teams have had their competitiveness compromised by outbreaks.
That includes the Penguins who currently have Crosby, Brian Dumoulin, Chad Ruhwedel and Marcus Petterson in protocol. They’ve had eight players in Covid-19 protocol this season.
After starting strong, the Penguins have now lost three in a row. They are 3-3-2, which puts them in last place in the highly competitive Metropolitan Division.
The San Jose Sharks, meanwhile, had Kevin Labanc, Timo Meier, Matt Nieto, Erik Karlsson, Jake Middleton, Radim Simek and Marc-Edouard Vlasic on the Covid-19 protocol list and still managed to beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-3. Coach Bob Boughner and the trainer are also on the list.
The Sharks are fortunate to have their farm team in San Jose. They were able to call up five players from the Barracudas to play the game.
Patrick Kane came out of Covid-19 protocol Monday to register a hat trick to help his Chicago Blackhawks down the Ottawa Senators, 5-1.
Colorado’s star Nathan MacKinnon missed a couple of games to start this season. The Seattle Kraken launched its first NHL season with five players on the Covid-19 protocol list. Being on the list doesn’t necessarily mean the player tested positive. Sometimes, it’s for direct exposure.
On Tuesday, Kyle Clifford joined the St. Louis Blues’ Covid-19 protocol list that already included Ryan O’Reilly, Brandon Saad and Ville Huuso. Saad has been practicing and probably will play tonight. O’Reilly is close to being back.
The players testing positive are all fully vaccinated. Every NHL player except Detroit’s Tyler Bertuzzi is vaccinated and teams are taking precautions. Yet cases are going to pop up.
Crosby’s symptoms are mild. Some players who test positive have had no symptoms.
Pittsburgh’s No. 1 defenseman Kris Letang did have symptoms and missed four games after entering protocol Oct. 23. He practiced with the team Wednesday after skating on his own Tuesday.
“Obviously, it was tough,… Letang told the Pittsburgh media. “First four days, you can’t do anything because you’re so tired and you have all the symptoms.…
He could have exercised the last five days, but couldn’t because protocol demanded he wait until his screening was completed.
“As soon as you step on the ice, you feel it in the lungs,… Letang said. “The fact that I coughed a lot during those days didn’t help. But I felt yesterday, I cleared up all the bad stuff inside me and today I felt good.…
From the league perspective, the one positive is no games have been canceled. But it is still frustrating for teams to keep losing players. It's particularly frustrating for Crosby because he missed the first seven games of the season because of wrist surgery. He is just now getting his timing back.
“It’s tough,… Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I’m not going to lie… I know how disciplined our group is. I feel, as an organization, we’re trying to do everything we can to mitigate the risk and yet we’re still getting it.…