Nikita Zaitsev becomes ninth Senators player in COVID-19 protocol
The NHL may soon have to step in and take the 3-8-1 Ottawa Senators off the ice for a few days for the good of everyone involved.
Ottawa confirmed ahead of Thursday's game against the 7-5-1 Los Angeles Kings that defenseman Nikita Zaitsev was placed in the league's COVID-19 protocol. Zaitsev became the club's ninth player currently unavailable due to coronavirus-related guidelines:
Earlier in the day, forward Alex Formenton and goaltender Matt Murray joined forwards Austin Watson, Dylan Gambrell and Connor Brown, defensemen Josh Brown, Victor Mete and Nick Holden, and associate coach Jack Capuano on the COVID-19 list.
According to TSN's Darren Dreger, chief medical officers from the NHL and NHL Players' Association are monitoring Ottawa's potential COVID-19 crisis.
"All you can do is try to protect yourself as much as possible," Senators coach D.J. Smith said hours before Zaitsev went into the protocol, per The Canadian Press (h/t CBC). "Try to wear a mask, try to distance yourself and stay inside your certain circles. But at this point, it's really tough because your circle is the group that has it."
Ottawa is scheduled to host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday evening, but the statuses of any near-future matchups are up in the air pending additional testing.
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