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Devils COVID Update

Some news regarding the Devils and COVID was reported today as the NHL tries to get a handle on the Omicron variant.

According to Sam Kasan of the Inside the Devils Blog, Tomas Tatar and newly acquired goalie Jon Gillies have entered into COVID Protocol. On the other side and in more encouraging news, Nico Hischier, Jesper Boqvist, Ryan Graves, PK Subban and Christian Jaros have all been removed from the Protocol list.

Again, as confirmed by the Devils on Christmas Eve, the game tomorrow (Monday, December 27) at the St. Louis Blues has been postponed to a later date.

In other news as the hockey world continues to turn, today marks the beginning of the 2022 World Junior Championship in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta.

The Devils have four prospects playing in the annual tournament: defenseman Luke Hughes of the USA, forward Alexander Holtz of Sweden, who was allowed by the Devils to participate in this year’s tournament after already playing in six NHL games in 2021-22, Shakir Mukhamadullin of Russia and goaltender Jakub Malek of Czechia.

We will have a post up later tonight/early tomorrow morning recapping the first day of action at the 2022 WJC.

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Monday’s Game at St. Louis Postponed

Merry Christmas everyone! If you are celebrating today, here’s hoping your Christmas Day is going well and you are spending time with family, friends and loved ones.

Unfortunately, some sobering news about the world outside of us as Sam Kasan wrote on the Devils’ official blog – a post that appeared on the team’s app – that the NHL has postponed the Monday night game between the Devils and the hometown St. Louis Blues on December 27.

Kasan wrote that the NHL wants to “analyze League-wide results and to assess Clubs’ readiness to play” as he quoted from a “league release.”

The makeup date is to be determined, but the NHL now has the two-week former-Olympic break in February to work with as it was announced this past week that the NHL will not be participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. The league will instead use that period to make up games that have been previously postponed due to COVID-19 precautions.

According to Kasan, NHL clubs “are permitted to return to practice on Dec. 26 and any further updates on the league’s return to play will be provided by “the end of day on Sunday.””

So far, the Devils game at the Buffalo Sabres on December 29 – their next scheduled game – is still on. That could, of course, change by Sunday evening.

The 2022 World Junior Championship, slated to begin on Sunday as well, will be proceeding as scheduled. Fan attendance at Rogers Place in Edmonton and WP Centrium in Red Deer will be at about 50-percent capacity, but things should be good to go for the time being.

Tomorrow will see plenty of action as Finland will face Germany and the Czechs will take on Canada in Group A in Edmonton while Russia and Sweden and the USA and Slovakia will faceoff with each other in Group B action in Red Deer.

We will have coverage here, although the post will go up late as the games are Alberta time and, thus will get done after midnight or so here on the East Coast.

Again, a merry Christmas to everyone!