Colorado Avalanche
Third Colorado Avalanche player tests positive for COVID-19
A third Colorado Avalanche player has tested positive for COVID-19, the NHL announced today.
The player is in “self-isolation” according to a release from the NHL, and hasn’t had close contact with Avs players or staffers.
The Avs and Ottawa Senators are the only two NHL teams that have publicly disclosed players as having tested positive for the coronavirus (I’ve got my doubts that they’re the only two, but whatever). The Avs and Senators both were in a supposed “hot spot” for the virus in early March, with the Staples Center in Los Angeles being the likely spot. The teams also played in San Jose at close to the same time, and the SAP Center was the first NHL building that was closed in the wake of the pandemic.
Let’s hope this player (no, I don’t know who it is and wouldn’t report it even if I knew – unless the player wanted it known, that is) is doing well. Sure, NHL players are probably some of the best-equipped people to deal with this thing, but it still has to be a damn scary thing for them and their families. This virus was/is in their bodies. That’s scary.
I doubt the players will ever come forward to say they had the virus, and I think the team itself will strongly discourage them from doing that. It would cause all kinds of distractions for that player probably, and by extension to the team – and NHL teams hate distractions.
But maybe not. Maybe someone will want to come forward and talk about it, to serve as a guidepost to others who might have to deal with it. No doubt many media people will try to unearth who the players were/are. But woe to them if they disclose that without the players’ permission. That would be lawsuit city for that poor media person.