The NHL announced on Wednesday that it has shortened its quarantine mandate for players that test positive for COVID-19 so that they have to do so for just five compared to 10 before if local authorities give teams permission to shorten players’ quarantine periods.
You can see the agreement between the league and NHLPA below:
Photo: @frank_seravalli
According to a memo, the NHL now complies with CDC guidelines.
The Capitals currently have defenseman Nick Jensen (entered December 23), right-wing T.J. Oshie (December 19), Daniel Sprong (December 21), Justin Schultz (December 21), Nick Jensen (December 23), Vitek Vanecek (December 24), Dennis Cholowski (December 24), and Martin Fehervary (December 24) out due to COVID-19 protocol. All have been in protocol for at least five days.
Oshie skated with the team during an optional morning skate prior to Wednesday’s game against the Nashville Predators at Capital One Arena (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market).
The league currently has more than 100 players on COVID-19 protocol.
By Harrison Brown
Does this mean we could see some surprise lineup changes for tonight. Assume Oshie was in regardless. But now Jensen and Schultz could be in the lineup. And Sprong as well, but if Oshie is playing he may be a scratch anyway in favor of McMichael and Protas.
Possibly. We aren’t privy to the status, health wise, but it could certainly expedite returns.
Oshie probably needs a good practice in before returning. I expect him in for Friday’s game, though.
He’s been activated for tonight.