Coronavirus Officially Spreads To The N.H.L.

The Ottawa Senators confirmed Tuesday night that one of their players tested positive for COVID-19, marking the first confirmed case of the virus in the N.H.L.

The player had exhibited mild symptoms and was continuing to do so in isolation, while all those who had come into contact with him were in the process of being notified. In a followup statement Wednesday, the team emphasized that it had been following provincial and local guidelines.

“The Senators’ medical team is actively monitoring players and staff and following all appropriate and professional guidelines to help ensure the health and safety of our employees and the greater community.  

Players are being accessed and tested under the supervision of public health authorities. 

All Ottawa Senators players and staff who recently traveled were instructed to self-quarantine on Saturday and do not pose a public health risk to the community.”

A team spokesperson confirmed that all players had been in self-isolation since Saturday and that the player who tested positive underwent testing due to symptoms, not as a result of any other specific circumstance or team-wide testing. 

The Senators had traveled on a West Coast road trip and had played in the very last game in the league before the announcement that play would be suspended, a loss to the Kings in Los Angeles at Staples Center. The night prior, the Lakers hosted the Brooklyn Nets in the same arena, and since the Nets have had four confirmed cases of COVID-19, including that of the injured star forward Kevin Durant. The Nets and Senators did not share a dressing room at Staples, as the visiting basketball facilities are not large enough to accommodate hockey teams.

The Senators also visited Anaheim and San Jose on the same road trip. San Jose and Northern California in general have seen some of the swiftest and most sweeping regulations by local governments in response to the pandemic.

The N.H.L. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly addressed the issue Wednesday, telling reporters that “a fairly small number” of players in the league had undergone testing. Daly and the Senators both emphasized that there was no mandated testing for players and instead they were being encouraged to follow broader medical guidelines.

“The current state of medical advice is that people should likely not be tested unless they are symptomatic,” Daly told The Associated Press by email Wednesday. “That doesn’t mean that potentially exposed individuals shouldn’t take proper precautions such as adhering to self-quarantine principles as necessary and immediately reporting to medical staff should they become symptomatic.”

The N.H.L. suspended play effective March 12 and has now pushed back any potential resumption of play to May. Given increasingly numerous and strict mandates by state and local authorities regarding mass gatherings as well as the proliferation of cases in sports leagues and beyond, even May seems unlikely, leaving the 189 remaining regular-season and the postseason in limbo.

Elsewhere around hockey, the United States Hockey League and North American Hockey League, the top U.S. junior hockey leagues, have canceled their seasons. The N.H.L. and its top minor-league affiliates in the American Hockey League remained in a holding pattern with this season’s Stanley Cup and Calder Cup trophies in nebulous states.

Canada’s top junior leagues have canceled the remainder of their regular seasons and the playoffs may be in jeopardy as well. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced that its draft will be held online rather than in person, and that event was not scheduled until June.

The top professional league outside North America, the Kontinental Hockey League, suspended play until at least April 10 and is now facing pressure to cancel its playoffs entirely.