Seattle Kraken return to the practice after COVID-19 pause
The Seattle Kraken returned to the ice on Sunday after a COVID-19 surge paused the NHL.
With outbreaks causing a flurry of game postponements and sending players into protocol, the league closed all team facilities from Dec. 22 — two days before the planned holiday break — until Sunday. While teams could resume practice on Sunday, the NHL extended its pause on regular-season play through Dec. 28 to assess the readiness to play. The league said it should have an update by end of day Sunday.
Last week, the NHL announced that players would not participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to COVID-19 issues. The February 6-22 break — originally scheduled to accommodate Olympic participation — will now be used to reschedule games that have been or will be postponed.
The Kraken haven’t played since facing the Oilers on Dec. 18 at Climate Pledge Arena. They were scheduled to face the Canucks on Monday in Vancouver, but that game was postponed.
“We’ve been off for a significant amount of time,” head coach Dave Hakstol said after practice. “It’s a little bit more time than everybody is accustomed to. These practices are really important regardless of who’s available and who’s not available. These practices are really important to make sure we get some rhythm back and get the level of our game back to where it needs to be going into game action.”
Three Seattle players — Adam Larsson, Jamie Oleksiak and Carson Soucy — were added to COVID-19 protocol last week. Vince Dunn and Ryan Donato also entered protocol on Sunday, leaving Seattle with four defensemen. The Kraken are currently scheduled to play three home games this week against Philadephia on Wednesday, Calgary on Thursday and Vancouver on Saturday.
Oleksiak could return on Wednesday, but there is more to being available than completing the 10 days of quarantine and testing negative.
“You have the dates they’re scheduled in terms of going into protocol, when the 10 days are up,” Hakstol said. “There’s more to it than that. There’s the health of the player at the end of that time. All those are things you simply can’t evaluate until you get to that point.”
The Kraken had other players missing at practice, too. Jordan Eberle, Colin Blackwell and Will Borgen had travel difficulties that prevented them from getting back to Seattle. Brandon Tanev was placed on injured reserve last week after suffering an injury against the Oilers.
Yanni Gourde, Colin Blackwell and Riley Sheahan were released from COVID-19 protocol just as the NHL entered its pause.
“I just got to go out there and try to work hard, get my legs under me, get a good sweat, feel the puck a little bit,” Gourde said of getting back into a rhythm after the extended lay-off. “Once the game starts not to try to do too much. Just do simple things and go from there. You can’t go from zero to 100 just like that. You got to take your time and just start building.”
The NHL and NHLPA on Sunday did announce CBA exemptions for COVID-19 roster relief. For the remainder of the season, teams will be able to add an additional goalie whenever they are down two. If teams are facing a game without two goalies, six defensemen and 12 forwards, they will be permitted one energy recall of a player whose cap hit is less than $1 million.
Teams will also be allowed to use taxi squads — six players for up to 20 days — until the All-Star break in February. How the Kraken will handle their roster questions remains to be seen. Hakstol said the team hasn’t made those decisions yet.
“Number one is to make sure we manage our day tomorrow, which is a practice day,” Hakstol said .”To be honest with you, that’s where my focus and energy goes into right now — making sure we’re ready to have a good day of practice, organized really well to have a good sharp day of practice that’s leading us back into the game situations on the 29th.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2021 at 6:56 PM.
