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The Avalanche practiced for the first time on Thursday, and the Wild were cleared to resume practicing Friday after both completed 10-day pauses. There are currently five NHL teams on pause: the Devils, Buffalo Sabres, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild and Philadelphia Flyers, though others have also been idled. ``We're to know more before the games, which is ultimately what we want.''Įleven of the NHL's 31 teams are affected, with 54 players on the COVID-19 list, led by the Devils with 18. ``I think now with the rapid testing getting in place is going to help,'' Stone said. Golden Knights forward Mark Stone welcomed the NHL's decision to add rapid testing. Otherwise, the 35 postponed games have all involved teams in the three U.S.-based divisions in place for this season. The Oilers became the NHL's first Canadian-based team to encounter a virus-related disturbance a little under a month into the season. And it comes on the same day the league delayed the start of Edmonton's game at Montreal by an hour to provide additional time to complete contact-tracing and test results after Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi was placed on the COVID-19 list. The development comes two days after Vegas Golden Knights forward Tomas Nosek tested positive but was not quarantined until after playing the first two periods of a 5-4 win over Anaheim. The added measures were approved by the league and NHL Players' Association's medical advisors, and will remain in place until at least the end of the month.
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The NHL is also launching a player tracking system to assist in contract tracing, and intends to use genomic sequencing on a case by case basis to determine specific strains of the coronavirus when there is a cluster of positive tests. In addition, teams are asked to provide players and staff KN95 facemasks, which are considered more effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19. The directive also recommends other household members stay at home, and consider using grocery delivery services. Other expanded safety protocols include having all team meetings conducted virtually, removing the plexiglass surrounding the penalty box area, and recommend players not leave their homes except to attend practices, games or for essential activities. The league says it is working with its seven Canadian-based teams to have a similar rapid-testing system in place based on availability. PCR tests are considered to be more accurate, but there's a 12-24 hour turnaround on results. Rapid tests will be initially made available to the league's 24 U.S.-based teams and provide results within a half-hour to augment daily PCR testing already in place, which is similar to the protocols the NBA introduced this season.
#NHL 19 TEAMS SERIES#
The NHL is adding game-day rapid tests for players, team personnel and on-ice officials as part of a series of expanded safety protocols unveiled Thursday in its latest bid to stem potential COVID-19 outbreaks.