The Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin and three teammates will miss at least the next four games for violating the league’s coronavirus protocols, the team said Thursday.
Also out are No. 1 center Evgeny Kuznetsov, top-four defenseman Dmitry Orlov and starting goaltender Ilya Samsonov for being in a hotel room together with none of them wearing a mask during the team’s season-opening four-game road trip, which ended Tuesday.
Coach Peter Laviolette said there was a positive coronavirus test result on the team, which led to contact tracing. He didn’t say who tested positive.
The Washington Post reported that Samsonov tested positive and the team received the news Tuesday night, after a loss to the Penguins. Samsonov didn’t have symptoms when he got the test result, the Post said.
The Capitals said Wednesday the four players had been put on the COVID-19 protocol list after the league fined them $100,000 for the protocol violations.
“We totally understand why the rules are in place, and there’s no arguing with that,” said Laviolette, who’s in his first season as Washington’s coach. “We knew the rules. We’re not sitting here saying that we were uninformed or we weren’t aware. We need to do a better job.”
The Capitals’ next game is scheduled for Friday night against the Sabres at home.
Through contact tracing, the Capitals and league learned that all four players, all Russian, hung out multiple times together in a Pittsburgh hotel room during their road trip, the Post said. The Capitals also played in Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon. At those hotel gatherings, which violated NHL protocols, the players watched sports and played video games the Post said.
“The players were honest with what they did,” Laviolette said, without giving specifics.
Players are prohibited from practicing or playing while they are on the list.
There’s no hard and fast time frame for how long a player who tests positive or has potential exposure must be out under the NHL protocols. The NHL defers to local authorities, and the minimum four games for the Capitals players relates to the District of Columbia’s quarantine regulations.
A day after Ovechkin expressed regret for the mistake, teammates said the protocols were spelled out for them before the season.
“It’s not a situation we want to be in, but here we are,” center Nicklas Backstrom said. “We’re a tight group. Every time we’re on the road, we see a chance to really connect as a group, but obviously it’s a violation.”
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