The wave of new COVID-19 cases sweeping across the NHL, as well as every other sports league, hasn’t spared the Blackhawks after all.
Veteran defenseman Calvin de Haan was placed in COVID protocol Monday, becoming the Hawks’ first case in this current surge. It’s the first time the Hawks have had anyone out with COVID since Tyler Johnson and Isaak Phillips were removed from the list on Nov. 10.
There are several reasons to be optimistic that de Haan’s infection won’t spread to his Hawks teammates and cause a full-blown outbreak.
First, he had been held out of the Hawks’ last two games — Friday against the Predators and Saturday against the Stars — with an illness, even though it was considered non-COVID-related at the time. And second, the Hawks did not hold practice Sunday or Monday.
But considering the unpredictability of COVID’s spread, and the trends being observed league-wide at the moment, the Hawks must be concerned nonetheless.
They’re now one of 24 teams with at least one player in COVID protocol, with de Haan increasing the total number of players in protocol to 120 — more than 16% of the entire league — as of Monday afternoon.
The league has temporarily tightened safety measures, re-instituting many of of the strict masking and distancing rules that were in place during the 2021 season last spring, to try to control the outbreak.
“It’s probably driving them nuts that we’re reminding them every day [about] the hygiene part of it, and to make sure we do all the right things to follow the protocols,” Hawks interim coach Derek King had said pregame Saturday.
No amount of restrictions seem to be able to preserve normalcy at the moment, though. With nine teams shut down through Christmas — and U.S.-Canada border travel halted by the NHL, very few games are taking place.
Just four of the eight games originally scheduled for Sunday around the league were actually played. Of Monday’s five originally scheduled games, precisely one — Blues at Stars — took place. Only two of the 10 games originally scheduled for Tuesday have not yet been postponed, with the Hawks’ matchup against the Panthers already among the casualties.
That Panthers game postponement was the reason why the Hawks did not practice Sunday or Monday, in fact, so it could end up being a blessing in disguise.
The Hawks had planned, however, to take the ice at Fifth Third Arena for practices Tuesday and Wednesday before rematching the Stars on Thursday at home. That game leads into the holiday break, which the league clearly hopes will give every team a much-needed pause that could stem the tide of cases.
But even after the break, much remains uncertain. The Hawks are scheduled to host the Blue Jackets on Dec. 28, visit the Jets on Dec. 29, visit the Predators on Jan. 1 and host the Flames on Jan. 2. But the Jackets, Predators and Flames are all currently shut down due to exploding COVID cases and the Jets game would require cross-border travel.
Note: The Hawks sent prospect forward Josiah Slavin down to the AHL on Sunday, ending his first NHL stint after nine games. But he may well be called up again after Rockford’s matchup Tuesday against Milwaukee. He has played well despite his lack of production (zero goals, one assist) and spent much of Saturday centering Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat.
