It’s wait-and-see for Flames as COVID count hits 10

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Twenty players suited up for the Calgary Flames in Saturday’s home loss to the Boston Bruins.

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Within the next 72 hours, nearly half of them had tested positive for COVID-19.

The Flames’ outbreak has now grown to 10 cases — nine skaters and a member of the training staff. Added to the list Tuesday were forwards Milan Lucic and Sean Monahan and defenceman Noah Hanifin.

“Thank you for the well wishes!” Lucic wrote in a social-media message to fans. “Our team is 100% vaccinated and some like myself also have a booster. Looking forward to being back on the ice soon!”

During Tuesday’s virtual media conference, Flames general manager Brad Treliving told reporters all 10 cases are currently asymptomatic. When asked if his team is dealing with the Omicron variant, which has made international headlines and is spreading at an alarming rate, he replied that he doesn’t have that answer yet.

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“My understanding is once you do the testing, it takes a period of time,” Treliving said. “A positive test comes back, more testing has to be done to determine what variant it is.”

That’s not all the news the Flames are waiting on.

They have so far had three games postponed — Monday at Chicago, Tuesday at Nashville and Thursday’s matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Saddledome.

They’re currently scheduled to return to action Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. If that happens, they will be seriously shorthanded.

Under the current provincial guidelines, any confirmed case is required to isolate for a minimum of 10 days. That means the Flames would still be missing nine players — a list that also includes first-line centre Elias Lindholm, leading marksman Andrew Mangiapane, fellow forwards Brad Richardson and Adam Ruzicka and rearguards Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov.

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Flames on the protocol list

Of the players who dressed against the Boston Bruins last Saturday, the black and white photos indicate those who are on the COVID protocol list:

“As we’ve all learned over the past couple of years, you stay limber and nimble and prepared to pivot. Right now, we’re postponed through Thursday,” Treliving said. “I don’t want to make any proclamations about what’s going to happen tomorrow, never mind Saturday … In today’s world, what I’m finding is Tuesday to Saturday seems like an eternity right now. We’ll see what happens today, tomorrow and as we get closer to Saturday.”

With that 4-2 loss to the Bruins this past Saturday, the Flames were handed a fourth straight setback, their longest skid of the season. The string of defeats was a hot topic during post-game press availabilities, but it seems like the least of their worries now.

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Team officials and medical personnel learned in the wee hours of that night of three positives, the results from regular testing prior to the battle with the B’s.

They were boarded Sunday afternoon for a flight to Chicago — where they were set to face the Blackhawks on Monday, the first stop on a two-game getaway — but delayed the departure, eventually de-planing, as they awaited word from the lab after their entire travelling party was re-tested. That batch revealed four more cases.

Citing “concern with continued spread and the likelihood of additional positive cases in the coming days,” the NHL told the Flames to stay home, announcing three games would be postponed and Calgary’s training facilities would be closed until further notice.

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All Flames players are currently isolating. They are being tested daily and won’t be allowed to convene for practice until at least Friday.

“The No. 1 priority for everybody is the health and safety of our players, their families, those close to them, everybody impacted,” Treliving said. “We have a great medical team. Our people know, whatever they need, we will get provided for them. Let’s not lose sight that everything else is a distant second to that.”

As Treliving pointed out several times during his Zoom with media, this is a reality of play during a pandemic. That was especially apparent Tuesday, with several NHL teams reporting positive tests.

The Carolina Hurricanes, who pit-stopped Thursday at the Saddledome, now have six players in COVID-19 protocol, prompting the postponement of a meeting with the Minnesota Wild.

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Superstar winger Brad Marchand was one of two Bruins to be added to the league-wide list.

The Vancouver Canucks, after hosting both the Hurricanes and Bruins over the past week, had a pair of cases.

The Edmonton Oilers, who have recently clashed with those same opponents, will be without rookie forward Ryan McLeod due to the virus. Their head coach, Dave Tippett, wasn’t on the bench Tuesday for what the club characterized as ‘precautionary reasons.’

There has been a surge of cases in the NBA and NFL, too. (It will be a quiet week at United Center in Chicago. After Monday’s Blackhawks-Flames game was postponed, so too was Tuesday’s hoops showdown between the Bulls and Detroit Pistons.)

“Unfortunately, now we’re dealing with it,” Treliving said Tuesday. “We’ll go through this and we will get out on the other side of it, at some point.

“When you look around, a lot of other teams in the league have dealt with it, a lot of different sports. And hey, we’re not immune to what society is dealing with. This is unfortunately part of the world we live in today.”