The Vancouver Canucks are scheduled to play against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday evening but the biggest news of the day is that two players tested positive and were put on COVID protocol.
The Canucks announced that Luke Schenn and Juho Lammikko are the two players that tested positive.
The Canucks also put Travis Hamonic on LTIR and called up Phil Di Giuseppe from Abbotsford.
The Vancouver Canucks announced today that defenceman Luke Schenn and forward Juho Lammikko have been placed into the NHL's COVID-19 protocol.
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 14, 2021
DETAILS | https://t.co/otFZgl2cwy pic.twitter.com/VmK8FQ75EB
Schenn was tested on Sunday, before the game against Carolina, and his result came out as positive on Monday. Lammikko was tested on Monday morning and his result came out as positive on Tuesday morning.
All players, coaches and training staff were all tested on Monday and teams are required to be tested every three days according to the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol.
The Canucks also cancelled their morning skate.
Details on the #Canucks’ positives.
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) December 14, 2021
Looks like the first positive occurred prior the game vs. Carolina. A second positive was confirmed this morning.
Additional testing will be received prior to the game Tuesday vs. CBJ. pic.twitter.com/sSM5TFDnhp
The Canucks had a major COVID outbreak last spring. Both Lammikko and Schenn were not on the team then.
The Hurricanes have their Tuesday evening game against the Minnesota Wild postponed after Jordan Staal, Andrei Svechnikov, Ian Cole and Steven Lorentz tested positive after their morning skate. Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and a trainer also tested positive on Monday and are still in Vancouver for the time being.
Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis & a team trainer are stuck isolating in Vancouver for 14 days. The Canucks lent them exercise equipment for their rooms
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) December 14, 2021
Canes looking into getting them a medical flight out back to U.S. The trainer is a new dad & would miss his first Xmas w/ his infant
However, none of the Canes players are getting sick according to head coach Rod Brind’Amour.
Brind'Amour: "This is the good thing about the vaccine, this was the whole point of the vaccination -- the guys aren't getting sick. We've done what we can do."
— Sara Civ (@SaraCivian) December 14, 2021
Numerous players in the NHL are being place on COVID protocol including Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders, Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins, (The Bruins were in Vancouver on December 8) and Devon Toews of the Colorado Avalanche.
The Calgary Flames have their games postponed until Thursday with nine players and a staff member testing positive.
At the time of this writing, 23 players have been added to the NHL’s COVID list in the last 36 hours.
We've seen 23 players added to the NHL's Covid Protocol list inside the last 36 hours.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) December 14, 2021
It also seems the Nashville Predators also have positive tests.
To add some gloom on a difficult day for #NHL: Hearing there are a handful of potential positive Covid-19 players on #preds. Waiting on confirmation.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) December 14, 2021
Stay tuned. Lots happening today.
It’s safe to say all of this is concerning.
So... at least 6 Hurricanes have COVID, they were in Vancouver on Sunday and Calgary on Thursday. At least 9 Flames players have COVID. At least 2 Canucks players have COVID. At least 2 Bruins have COVID, they were in Vancouver on Wednesday and Calgary on Saturday.
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) December 14, 2021
The NHL and NHLPA will discuss the latest positive tests on Tuesday night.
Hearing that the doctors from the NHL and NHLPA are having a call tonight to discuss the latest Covid happenings and I presume to recommend next steps.@TSNHockey @TheAthletic
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) December 14, 2021
Canucks President of Hockey Operations and interim general manager Jim Rutherford spoke to the media via Zoom to discuss the positive tests.
“We’re working through all the league protocol,” said Rutherford per The Athletic’s Thomas Drance. “The players and everybody has been tested again this morning. We’ll get those results later this afternoon.”
Rutherford was asked a time for when the results of the test will be revealed and he said 6 PM. That is one hour before the game.
Rutherford said tonight's game status may not be known until 6 p.m., once today's tests are revealed. #Canucks
— Ben Kuzma 🇺🇦 (@benkuzma) December 14, 2021
Rutherford was also asked about cancelling the morning skate.
“It’s our decision, but we work with the players, and there has to be a comfort level here,” he said per Sportsnet 650’s Brendan Batchelor. “No one was comfortable here at the building, nor would we expect them to be.”
There is a possibility that the game against Columbus and further games down the schedule could be postponed but that will be determined if there are more positive tests that come out at 6 PM. Any player that tests positive has to quarantine.
“I don’t know what guidelines the league uses to cancel games, but it certainly appears that it has to be a bigger number that what we’re dealing with right now,” said Rutherford per Batchelor.
We will provide updates on this story.