Vancouver Canucks start April with degree of uncertainty due to COVID-19 cases
Posted April 1, 2021 8:34 am.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The Vancouver Canucks have a seven-game road trip looming to start the month of April, but those plans could be put on hold.
The NHL is expected to provide an update Thursday on whether or not there will be a short-term schedule change after two Canucks players and a coach entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
Vancouver was supposed to take on the Calgary Flames to battle for fifth place in the North Division Wednesday night, but the NHL pulled the plug on that match up just 90 minutes before puck drop.
The NHL said the call was made by medical teams from the league, NHL Players’ Association and Canucks.
A player on the COVID-19 protocol list has not necessarily tested positive.
If the league uses the Montreal Canadiens’ recent experience as precedent, the Canucks could be shut down for a week; no practices, no games, no nothing. That’s what happened to the Canadiens last month after just one positive case, which turned out to be a variant.
As it currently stands, the Canucks are due to leave Friday for their road trip, set to begin in Edmonton Saturday night.
However, the Canucks are not the only local hockey team approaching the next few days with a sense of trepidation. The WHL’s Vancouver Giants Thursday night game was postponed after seven members of the Kelowna Rockets cohort tested positive for COVID-19.
Four of those positive tests came from players.
