Three More Flames Enter NHL Covid Protocol

We kind of figured this would happen once the Calgary Flames announced yesterday that six players and a trainer entered the NHL's Covid Protocol, but three more players have tested positive today.

With Noah Hanifin, Sean Monahan and Milan Lucic now out, that puts Calgary's current list of players at nine:

Noah Hanifin, Sean Monahan, Milan Lucic, Brad Richardson, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, Andrew Mangiapane and Adam Ruzicka

There's also an unnamed trainer on the list as well, putting the team at 10 people in the organization who've entered the NHL Covid Protocol as of this writing.

The Flames were shut down by the league yesterday until December 16th, but with three more positive cases it would make sense the NHL may postpone more Flames games as well. Currently Calgary has missed yesterday's tilt with the Chicago Blackhawks, today's game with Nashville and Thursday's matchup with Toronto. They could have come back on Saturday with the Columbus Blue Jackets on the schedule, but that game could be in doubt as well. The next games after the stretch are Anaheim on December 21 and Seattle on December 23rd, but the NHL could just postpone the Flames return until after Christmas when they meet the Edmonton Oilers on the 27th.

Everything is up in the air right now as the Flames don't have a lot of wiggle room cap wise to move players around, so they are in a serious bind with their roster. Other teams Calgary has played this season with Covid issues (San Jose and New York Islanders) iced teams with roster players from their farms to keep playing, but it doesn't appear the Flames have those options.

As of now, the return date hasn't been updated, but expect that to change as the Flames and league offices talk throughout the day.

The good news for the six players who tested positive yesterday is that they are all asymptomatic and feeling fine according to the team.

by Mark Parkinson