12:21 pm: Forward Nick Cousins has now entered COVID protocol, making it seven Nashville skaters on the list. Assistant coach Dan Hinote, who was expected to coach tonight, is also now on the list. Taylor will serve as head coach, while assistant general manager Scott Nichol will join him and Ford behind the bench.
10:11 am: The Nashville Predators are pushing forward and expected to take the ice against the Colorado Avalanche tonight despite having several players and coaches enter the COVID protocol yesterday. To ice a full roster, they’ve recalled Cody Glass, Rocco Grimaldi, Mathieu Olivier, and Cole Smith from the Milwaukee Admirals. The Admirals will also be loaning head coach Karl Taylor and assistant Scott Ford, who will be behind the Nashville bench tonight.
Yesterday, Mikael Granlund, Ryan Johansen, Matt Luff, Michael McCarron, Philip Tomasino, and Ben Harpur were all ruled out. The Predators will have to make do without them, inserting several minor league players into the lineup.
Still, the four they have recalled do have quite a bit of NHL experience. Glass, the sixth overall pick from 2017, has played 68 games to this point in his career and still has plenty of potential. He was sent to the minor leagues to get his confidence back up and play in more offensive situations–something that has paid off with 19 points in 21 AHL games.
Grimaldi meanwhile has been a regular for the Predators in each of the last few seasons, playing more than 200 games in his NHL career. The 5’6″ forward has scored eight goals in 14 games with Milwaukee and can obviously handle himself at the NHL level. Olivier and Smith have much less experience, but are certainly capable of filling in. They even might find themselves getting a little extra ice time given the absences upfront.
FearTheWilson
AVS in regulation time -110 is the play
Donovan Voigt
Preds really going to be playing with a chip on their shoulder… hopefully Karl gets his first W
tjettman
This is really getting ridiculous. Shouldn’t someone be questioning the testing results?
Gbear
Yes they should. If someone has any type of cold or flu in their system, this test will come up positive for covid. It was never intended to diagnose a particular virus strain.
Donovan Voigt
Kinda seems like the league is picking and choosing who plays and who doesn’t… Nashville has 9 people out now?! And they had to make the AHL coaching staff NHL people
Gbear
Pretty soon, Amy Grant will be summoned to coach the Preds like she did at the all-star game. :D