TRAIKOS: NHL appears to be one more COVID-19 case away from pulling out of the Olympics – Toronto Sun

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More and more, it’s looking like the NHL won’t be participating in the Olympics.

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Last week, commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters at the Board of Governors meetings that he was “concerned” with allowing players to travel to Beijing at the height of a global pandemic. On Monday, that level of concern rose dramatically after the Calgary Flames were forced to postpone at least three of this week’s games after six players and a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.

No, the coronavirus is not going away. If anything, with the Omicron variant doubling its cases each day, it’s getting worse.

The deadline for pulling out of the Olympics is still weeks away. But at this point, it appears that the league is one more outbreak away from pulling the chute. After all, the league’s primary concern is preventing the disruption of its own season. And by the looks of it, that might now be in jeopardy.

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According to Daily Faceoff reporter Frank Seravalli, 123 players have entered COVID-19 protocols this season, with three outbreaks forcing the postponement of games. That’s approximately 17% of the league. And that’s a league that is 99.9% fully vaccinated.

It’s one thing to test positive in North America. It’s another to do so in China, where the league is still unsure as to where and how long a player would have to quarantine for, and whether he would be allowed to leave the country.

“Our concerns have only been magnified,” Bettman told reporters.

Imagine what those concerns could look like after the holidays.

FORGET ABOUT McDAVID VS. MATTHEWS 

When the Edmonton Oilers host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, it will feature a much-anticipated matchup between two of league’s highest goal-scorers. But if we learned anything from last year when both teams were knocked out of the first round of the playoffs, it is really a matchup of depth.

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And it’s a matchup that the Oilers, who have lost five straight, are currently losing.

Despite signing Zach Hyman (11 goals) away from Toronto in the summer, the same old problems in Edmonton exist. While Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid have combined for 39 goals, the rest of the team has managed only 49 goals. Worse, only 11 of those goals have come from the bottom-two lines.

In Toronto, where 27 goals have come from the third and fourth lines, it has been far more balanced.

Auston Matthews leads the offence with 18 goals, followed by John Tavares and William Nylander with 13 goals each. But whether it’s Ondrej Kase (8 goals), Michael Bunting (7 goals) or Jason Spezza (7), Toronto is leaning on its depth more than ever before.

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BRUCE, THERE IT IS 

Bruce Boudreau said he does not like the “stupid song” that fans have been serenading him with since he took over as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks. But with four straight wins, he has to be happy with how the atmosphere has changed in the city.

There is a newfound optimism in Vancouver.

The team is winning. The top players are back to scoring. And the Canucks are slowly moving up the standings.

It’s far too early to tell if this will lead to a playoff spot, but based on Boudreau’s regular season record — he has missed the playoffs only twice as an NHL head coach — and how the team has responded since he took over from Travis Green, don’t bet against it.

Here are four reasons why Vancouver is 4-0-0 so far under Boudreau:

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— Goaltender Thatcher Demko has gotten hot, stopping 128 of 133 shots for a .962 save percentage.

— After going 13 games without scoring, Brock Boeser has three goals and one assist in his last four games.

— Elias Pettersson, who has only five goals this year, scored his first even-strength goal of the season on Sunday.

— The penalty kill, which is the worst in the league, has allowed only two goals on the past 10 attempts.

TRAIK IT OR LEAVE IT 

Edmonton hockey writer Jim Matheson raised an interesting question when he asked why Oilers prospect Matvey Petrov, who is tearing up the OHL with 19 goals and 44 points in 27 games, was not chosen for Russia’s world junior roster. Is Russia that deep offensively that they have no room for someone who ranks third in OHL scoring? Or could it be because Petrov is playing in North Bay rather than northern Siberia? …  Going back to last year, Matthews has scored 59 goals in his past 78 games … As long as Bunting remains on a line with Matthews, I can’t imagine him not winning the Calder Trophy this year. With 19 points in 29 games — he’s five points back of rookie scoring leader Lucas Raymond — the 26-year-old is on pace for 54 points … It appears that Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele, who has five goals and nine points in his past five games, might have caught wind last month that he had played himself off Canada’s Olympic roster … The NHLPA gets a voice in deciding whether their members will go to the 2022 Winter Olympics. And while not everyone in the league is heading to Beijing, don’t discount the votes of those players who have already booked a vacation to the Bahamas to coincide with the two-week tournament … The Rangers add Ryan Reaves to their roster and suddenly Jacob Trouba starts laying guys like he’s Scott Stevens. Funny how that works.

mtraikos@postmedia.com

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