Two Vancouver Canucks placed in COVID-19 protocol

Tuesday’s Vancouver Canucks game is set to go ahead as scheduled, despite two players being placed into the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.

All players were tested on Sunday. News that defenceman Luke Schenn tested positive came on Monday, while the results for forward Juho Lammikko came on Tuesday.

Speaking to media Tuesday afternoon, Interim General Manager Jim Rutherford said it’s not clear how or where the players contracted the virus.

“We follow the protocols that are laid out by the league and by the province and try to do the best we can. But the one thing we can do as individuals within the Canucks with the players is to remind everybody what the protocols are,” he said.

“Well, we live in a different world and we all have to make adjustments to it. And we’ll adjust to this situation. But the Canucks have experienced this before, last year, and it’s not a fun place to be for players. It wasn’t something that was easy to go through last year. And nobody wants to get in that same situation this year.”

Vancouver was the NHL team hit hardest by COVID-19 last season, with 21 players and four coaches testing positive for the virus, and several games being postponed.

Canucks President Jim Rutherford is indicating that as of now, the game tonight against the Blue Jackets is still on. Says he expects a new round of test results are expected at 6pm.

— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) December 14, 2021

The team is set to play the Columbus Blue Jackets at 7 p.m.

Rutherford said an additional round of test results is expected around 6 p.m.

“As far as any other changes at this point, we just have to see where it goes when we get the next group of tests,” he said.

“I don’t know what guidelines the league uses to cancel games, but it certainly appears that that has to be a bigger number than what we’re dealing with right now.”

The team’s practice was, however, cancelled.

“There has to be a comfort level here, and nobody was comfortable here this morning, nor did we expect them to be. When when we found out that the players weren’t comfortable we just felt that it was better to play it safe this morning,” Rutherford said.

“The players are ready to play the game. They have no problem with playing the game tonight. But there was not a comfort level to be around very long this morning.”

The positive results come after the Carolina Hurricanes placed centres Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis and a member of the training staff in COVID protocol on Monday. The Canucks hosted the Hurricanes on Sunday night.

With files from The Canadian Press