Alex DeBrincat and Adam Boqvist will miss “certainly two weeks,” potentially more, after being placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol list Monday.
Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton implied but didn’t explicitly state Tuesday that one or both tested positive.
“There’s an NHL protocol [that is] very clear as far as how things are going to go and making sure anyone who is high-risk is dealt with,” Colliton said. “That’s where we’re at. We’ll continue to test every day.”
In a hockey sense, the Hawks will look to compensate for the two rather important absences in the coming weeks with a next-man-up mentality.
Forward Matthew Highmore replaced DeBrincat and defenseman Lucas Carlsson replaced Boqvist in the lineup Tuesday against the Predators, which went on as scheduled.
“We have enough guys and enough depth to step up,” Ryan Carpenter said. “Those are two big important pieces for us, but right now we’re just focusing on whoever’s coming in.”
From a broader health sense, though, the Hawks are hoping the virus won’t turn out to have spread beyond DeBrincat and Boqvist.
Per NHL rules, everyone else must have tested negative in order to travel Monday and play Tuesday. And the Hawks aren’t the only team dealing with this: 21 players on seven teams currently reside on the COVID-19 list.
But the uncertainty remains scary for the group.
“Across the league, we’re understanding that things are delicate,” Colliton said. “We have to do everything we can to try to limit the spread, keep it out to begin with, and if it does get inside your walls, do everything you can to stop it from spreading. But we’re not going to know.”
