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The Minnesota Wild have been hit hard by COVID-19, with nine total players on the NHL’s protocol list and more personnel affected by this plague making its way through the organization, they haven’t been able to play a game since Feb. 2.
According to GM Bill Guerin, it will only get worse from here.
On a call with the media on Monday morning—after scheduling a conference call with the league this afternoon—Guerin spoke in detail about the problems his players are facing, and how he assumes it’s only going to get worse.
Guerin said there are players that are symptomatic (achiness, loss of sense of taste and smell).
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 8, 2021
He says COVID-19 is creeping through the team one by one and he fully expects more positives to pop up
After the initial bombardment of players heading to the protocol list, a few more Wild players were added in the following days, as the virus made its way through the team. Brad Hunt, Ian Cole, and Nico Sturm are three skaters that eventually joined those that were placed in lockdown last week.
Guerin went further to mention the current postponement of games and said that he expects the team will be granted more time off as they are dealing with a significant number of cases.
#mnwild have a 4:30 conference call w the NHL today to discuss future. Bill Guerin made clear he thinks the team needs more time off and to postpone more games. Transaction-wise with the cap would be "insane," he said.
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 8, 2021
9 players, 1 Wild staff member has tested positive, he says
With the nine players currently out, to even attempt to figure out the AHL call-ups and transactions needed to ice a full team, would be impossible. Multiple players are experiencing symptoms which is extremely troublesome to think of how it can affect their long-term health, as we have unfortunately learned with top prospect Marco Rossi announcing his departure from professional hockey for an entire season, due to lasting complications.
As for where they will go from here, Guerin made sure to hit the point home and make sure they are not going to be playing any games in the near future.
Guerin said the team has a call later today with the NHL’s medical staff and will assess where the team is at in terms of scheduling. “We’ll resume playing hockey when it’s safe to do so,” Guerin said.
— Sarah McLellan (@sarah__mclellan) February 8, 2021