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Doesn't seem smart to let Senators play with nine Covid cases |
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As much as we all understand the NHL wants to avoid Covid-related cancellations during an Olympic season, there comes a time when fairness, common sense and regard for players has to trump that sentiment.
That time was Thursday when the Ottawa Senators had nine players and an assistant coach on the Covid list.
Their home game against the Los Angeles Kings should have been cancelled. But the NHL didn’t cancel and the Senators lost a 2-0 decision. That was the first time in 77 games the Senators had been shut out.
The Senators used three defensemen with limited experience. Lassi Thomson made his NHL debut. Dillon Heatherington hadn’t played an NHL game since playing five in 2018-19. Erik Brannstrom was playing his second game of the season.
The situation for the Senators became worse when dependable defenseman Artem Zub suffered an upper body injury in the first period.
With a patchwork lineup, the Senators rose up and kept the score close. But did they have any chance to win that game? Didn’t seem like it.
Maybe it doesn’t matter because the Senators aren’t likely to be competing for a playoff spot. But imagine how unfair this game would be if this was one of the teams in the Metropolitan Division where we could end up having six teams separated by a few points?
But more important than the fairness issue, the game probably directly exposed the Kings to Covid when it didn’t need to happen.
I’m not an infectious disease expert, but it seems likely that other Senators will contract Covid, probably some who were infectious last night.
What happens if the eight or nine Kings test positive next week for Covid? It’s not like we won’t know where they contracted it. It would have made more sense to cancel the one game. It’s not like the Kings won’t be making another trip East.
It makes more sense to cancel a few games than to let Covid get another foothold on the league.
Ottawa Sun reporter Bruce Garrioch said Friday morning that the Senators only have two healthy defensemen left in the system.
The Senators are supposed to play the Penguins tomorrow. Can’t imagine they are too thrilled with the idea of playing against a Covid-infested team. The Penguins have already had their share of Covid issues
Appreciate the NHL’s desire to play a full schedule. No need to panic over isolated Covid cases. But nine on one team? You can’t commit to the no-cancellation objective to the point of ridiculousness.
It would have been better for all involved if that Ottawa-Los Angeles game had been cancelled.
Tomorrow's game should be cancelled as a precaution.
Blogger •HHOF Writer's column on the NHL • 
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