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The Toronto Maple Leafs are slowly crawling out of the hole caused by the NHL’s COVID protocol, as a number of players returned to the ice at the Ford Performance Centre in Etobicoke, ON on Tuesday after isolating over the last week.
The club went through workouts earlier in the week, took the day off on Wednesday and will practice on Thursday and Friday before returning to action on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
Forwards Jason Spezza, Alex Kerfoot, defensemen TJ Brodie, Travis Dermott, and goalie Jack Campbell were cleared to rejoin teammates Ondrej Kase, Wayne Simmonds, and John Tavares, but David Kampf, Ilya Mikheyev, Petr Mrazek, Rasmus Sandin, Morgan Rielly, William Nylander and Jake Muzzin (who were all diagnosed after the club returned from Vancouver) are still unavailable.
“It just kind of felt like a cold for three days or so,… Campbell said. “Nothing crazy, and it’s great to be back and feeling healthy.…
Most of the players who spoke indicated experiencing generally mild symptoms that subsided after a few days, but the league’s guidelines were for sitting out at least 10 days. That changed on Wednesday, as the NHL and Players Association adopted guidelines from the US Center of Disease Control that vaccinated individuals could leave isolation in five days after a positive COVID test if they have no symptoms or “symptoms are resolving.…
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that a complicating factor could be different criteria being followed north of the border, where provinces are limiting or not allowing any fans into buildings. This is the reason why the NHL is rescheduling nine January games in Canada (including the Leafs home game vs. Carolina game on January 3 and road game in Montreal on January 6).
Concern over further positives affecting the club spiked on Wednesday, as defenseman Timothy Liljegren (who participated in workouts earlier this week) was placed on the club’s protocol list.
The Leafs made some roster moves, as forwards Kyle Clifford, Joey Anderson, and blueliners Filip Kral, Kristians Rubins, Alex Biega, and Carl Dahlstrom were placed on the newly formed taxi squads. Based some on this list could see action on Saturday depending on how many defensemen return to the lineup over the next two days.
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