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We likely won’t hear from Darryl Sutter until after the holidays.
We likely won’t hear from Darryl Sutter until after the holidays.
He’s isolating at home, now on the growing list of Calgary Flames’ personnel to test positive for COVID-19.
But last season, amid an outbreak in the Vancouver Canucks’ locker-room, Sutter was asked about a situation similar to the one currently unfolding with his own club. Those words still ring true today, with a total of 27 active cases for the Flames — 16 players, three coaches and eight support staffers — and the team braced for the possibility of more.
“My biggest concern, they talk about the Canucks … My biggest concern, these are young guys with young families,” Sutter told NHL.com in April.
We likely won’t hear from Johnny Gaudreau until after the holidays.
Calgary’s superstar winger is isolating at home after a positive test of his own.
Everybody is wondering when the Flames will return to action, even if it’s without some of their key contributors. Saturday’s home date against the Columbus Blue Jackets has now officially been postponed. Next on the calendar would be Tuesday’s clash with the Anaheim Ducks, but that could certainly change.
There were similar questions last spring, when 20-some Canucks were infected with the virus.
“We couldn’t care less about the scheduling,” Gaudreau said then. “You hope everyone is safe and getting better and hope their families are OK. That’s the most important thing. You don’t really worry too, too much about the season right now. We worry about their health and everything like that. When they’re feeling better and whatnot, you can plan around that. You don’t really focus on the schedule right now.”
Those words still ring true today.
The Flames’ situation worsened Wednesday with news that the latest round of test results had revealed 17 more positives. That includes their leading scorer, Gaudreau, and their head coach, Sutter.
The Flames now have 16 players in COVID-19 protocol, the most of any NHL team at any point this season.
Also added to the list on Wednesday were starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom, defencemen Rasmus Andersson and Erik Gudbranson and forwards Byron Froese, Trevor Lewis and Tyler Pitlick. They join nine teammates who had previously been identified — Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm, Milan Lucic, Andrew Mangiapane, Sean Monahan, Brad Richardson, Adam Ruzicka, Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov.
Put another way, there are only seven skaters on the Flames’ active roster who have not tested positive over the past 96 hours.
There were three new cases Wednesday among Calgary’s coaches — Sutter, Kirk Muller and Ryan Huska — and seven among support staff.
Under provincial guidelines, every confirmed positive is legally required to isolate for at least 10 days. There are fathers and husbands on that list. Some have toddlers or infants at home.
The good news is as of Wednesday afternoon, all of the Flames’ cases were “doing well.” In announcing that Saturday’s game against the Blue Jackets had been postponed, the league stressed again the organization “has followed, and will continue to follow, all recommended guidelines aimed at protecting the health and safety of its players, staff and community at large as set by the NHL, local, provincial and federal agencies.”
The big difference between what’s happening in Calgary and the outbreak in Vancouver during the 2020-21 campaign is that the Canucks’ players, because of availability/roll-out up to that point, had yet to be vaccinated.
A lot has changed since then, not only in the hockey world but period. The Flames are fully-vaxxed — as Lucic pointed out in a post on Twitter, some have already received a booster — and that will help to reduce the risk of severe illness. (Around the entire league, it’s believed there is only one remaining skater who has opted against getting the jab.)
Still, any sort of outbreak is concerning. What’s especially alarming in Calgary’s current case is the rapid spread — they’ve gone from zero positives to 27 in a short span. They will continue to be tested daily.
While the Canucks were dealing last spring with the Gamma variant, the Flames have been awaiting further results to determine if they have been hit by Omicron, the latest strain.
That’s one of plenty of questions that remains to be answered.
The Flames’ schedule, their salary-cap situation, etc. — that will be sorted out eventually.
Right now, with their training facilities closed until further notice, this isn’t about hockey.
Just like Sutter and Gaudreau told us in the spring, when it was a rival team going through something similar to what the Flames are now experiencing.
“The No. 1 priority for everybody is the health and safety of our players, their families, those close to them, everybody impacted,” said Flames general manager Brad Treliving earlier this week. “Let’s not lose sight that everything else is a distant second to that.”
ICE CHIPS
While Thursday’s matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs is postponed, here’s a good reason for hockey fans to swing by the Saddledome. The Calgary Flames Alumni will be collecting donations in an outdoor drive-thru from 4-8 p.m. for their annual holiday toy drive. You can drop off unwrapped toys or grocery-store gift cards outside the Telus Club Entrance. Some of your franchise favourites will be there to collect items that will later be distributed to Women In Need Society and the Alberta Children’s Hospital.
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:
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins will bring in another quarterback while starter Tua Tagovailoa deals with his latest concussion, coach Mike McDaniel said Friday.
For now, Skylar Thompson will be considered the Dolphins’ starter while Tagovailoa is sidelined. Tagovailoa left Thursday night’s 31-10 loss to Buffalo in the third quarter with the third known concussion of his NFL career, all of them coming in the last 24 months.
“The team and the organization are very confident in Skylar,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel said the team has not made any decision about whether to place Tagovailoa on injured reserve. Tagovailoa was expected at the team facility on Friday to start the process of being evaluated in earnest.
“We just have to operate in the unknown and be prepared for every situation,” McDaniel said, noting that the only opinions that will matter to the team will be the ones from Tagovailoa and the medical staff.
McDaniel added that he doesn’t see Tagovailoa playing in Miami’s next game at Seattle on Sept. 22.
“I have no idea and I’m not going to all of a sudden start making decisions that I don’t even see myself involved in the most important parts of,” McDaniel added. “All I’m telling Tua is everyone is counting on you to be a dad and be a dad this weekend. And then we’ll move from there. There won’t be any talk about where we’re going in that regard … none of that will happen without doctors’ expertise and the actual player.”
Tagovailoa was 17 for 25 passing for 145 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions — one of which was returned for a Buffalo score — when he got hurt. Thompson completed eight of 14 passes for 80 yards.
Thompson said he feels “fully equipped” to run the Dolphins’ offense.
“What’s going to lie ahead, who knows, but man, I’m confident, though,” Thompson said after Thursday’s game. “I feel like I’m ready for whatever’s to come. I’m going to prepare and work hard and do everything I can to lead this team and do my job.”
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AP NFL:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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