Vancouver Canucks Dealing With More Positive Test Results

The Vancouver Canucks are expected to have several names added to the COVID Protocol when the list comes out later today, as Darren Dreger of TSN reports that there have been “a number of additional positive COVID-19 cases.” Dreger reports it is eight total players and one staff member that have tested positive. On Sportsnet radio today, Rick Dhaliwal said the same thing, calling it an “interesting number” of names that will be added to the list.

Yesterday, Travis Hamonic joined Adam Gaudette on the list and the league shut the Canucks down through April 6. In the postponement release, the NHL expressed hope that the team would be back in action by April 8, but if a number of players have tested positive that may be optimistic. As usual, the details on testing will not be made available, only that players are in or out of the protocol today.

The concern obviously lies with the health of the players and staff, but the league must now also try to find a way to reschedule the missed games. Vancouver already was set to play almost every other day for the rest of the regular season, with just three two-day breaks left. With three games already postponed those breaks will likely disappear, but if any more are pushed games might have to be tacked onto the end of the schedule. Currently, the team is set to finish its campaign on May 8—which seems unlikely to remain.