I think we can all agree by now that the NHL’s COVID protocol is stupid. Every guy on the team is vaccinated, or else he would have been sent off to Siberia like prospect Bode Wilde, the lone holdout from Lou’s organization-wide mandate. And yet, the team is essentially being punished for the misfortune of having positive tests of likely asymptomatic COVID in the middle of a pandemic. There should have been way more protections to ensure that this protocol wouldn’t leave teams crippled for multiple games.
Of course, even with those guardrails, losing two defensemen and a center to injuries would hurt, too, and the Islanders have lost Ryan Pulock and Brock Nelson for the next few weeks, while Noah Dobson is day to day.