The Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, both off for the next several days, announced more additions to the COVID protocol. Toronto placed David Kampf, Ilya Mikheyev, Petr Mrazek, Rasmus Sandin and goaltending coach Steve Briere in the protocol, while Detroit added Adam Erne, Jordan Oesterle and a member of the support staff.
For the Maple Leafs, that’s a good chunk of the team given that John Tavares, Alexander Kerfoot, Jason Spezza, Wayne Simmonds, T.J. Brodie, Travis Dermott, Jack Campbell, head coach Sheldon Keefe and assistant Spencer Carbery were already in the protocol. The team isn’t scheduled to play again until Dec. 27 after the holiday break but could very well be without several key players if that game is not postponed as well.
Detroit meanwhile has its own growing list, as Sam Gagner, Pius Suter, Joe Veleno, Filip Zadina, Givani Smith, Carter Rowney, Alex Nedeljkovic, Robby Fabbri, Michael Rasmussen and basically the entire coaching staff were already in the protocol. They too are off until Dec. 27, but given these new placements, they could be shorthanded when they take on the New York Rangers, should that game go on as scheduled.
While some of the players listed will be eligible to return soon for both teams, the fact that more players are testing positive is a concern at this point. Hopefully, it stops here, but with the number of players across the league entering the protocol, it seems unlikely.
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