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Question Marks Over Canucks’ Season After Covid Outbreak
The NHL says it is hopeful that the Vancouver Canucks will be able to complete the season despite 25 members of the team testing positive for a variant form of Covid-19.
A statement from the Canucks on Wednesday confirmed that 21 players, including three on the taxi squad, plus four staff members, “have tested positive and the source infection is confirmed a variant.” The variant has not been confirmed.
On Tuesday when the Canucks had 18 players on the Covid-19 protocol list, an NHL spokesman confirmed that a full 56-game season was ‘still the focus’. When asked on Wednesday whether anything had changed in light of the Canucks’ announcement, the spokesman said, “my answer is the same as it was yesterday.”
An NHL agent also confirmed he had heard nothing about any plans to cancel games.
Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease physician for St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton said that the issue could be the speed at which players make a full recovery from the different variants in order to take part in competitive sport.
“They may be out of quarantine in 10 days, but a lot of players may not return after they are considered clear,” he said. “They may actually need a few weeks to get back to hockey normal.
“If you have an outbreak of five or six [players] you can fill in the gaps, you can wait for some of your players to condition properly. At 21 players, that’s 21 different players that need to condition properly, that’s 21 players that need to get back into shape, get over their COVID and heal.”
When the first player tested positive last week, Vancouver’s next four games were postponed. They were then due to play games in Calgary on Thursday and Saturday but these have also now been postponed.
The Canucks have 19 regular season games remaining and the season has been extended from May 8 to 11 to allow for postponed games to be played.
/Stewart Sports news editor
