Penguins ready to deal with another 'covid season'

In March, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust labeled the 2020-21 campaign in a succinct fashion.

He termed it “the covid season.”

Faced with the harsh realities of covid-19, the NHL tip-toed through an unprecedented season with limited scheduling, travel and formats as well as a variety of rules aimed at keeping players, coaches and staffers as healthy as possible.

It wasn’t perfect. There were hiccups and missteps. But the NHL completed a season unlike any other.

“There’s a lot of unexpected things that happen,” Rust said in March. “And you’ve got to just roll with the punches.”

At the dawn of the 2021-22 season, the Penguins already have taken a few body blows.

Within the span of a week, forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Jake Guentzel tested positive for covid-19 and immediately were placed in isolation away from their teammates as well as other team staffers.

While the NHL’s current rules for dealing with the virus aren’t nearly as strict as they were last season, they easily can be changed to react to what remains a fluid situation.

“Covid hasn’t gone away,” said forward Kasperi Kapanen, who was placed in the NHL’s protocol for covid-19 last season, albeit for immigration issues. “Obviously, it hasn’t been as strict this year. But it’s just unfortunate that Jake got it. We’re doing everything we can to stay safe. We’ve got the masks on. We’ve got a great medical staff. They’re going to help us out and tell us what to do. We’ve just got to be extra careful from now on.”

NHL rules have been loosened, even going back to this spring after teams began to get vaccinated. In May, the league relaxed restrictions for playoff teams that had a vaccination rate of 85% for its traveling party (players, coaches, staffers, etc.). That meant less testing and mask-wearing along with more frequent in-person team meetings or even social gatherings.

And through the first week-plus of training camps beginning in September, players and coaches even spoke with independent media face-to-face for the first time since March of 2020, when the pandemic began to envelop North America.

But on Sunday, after a 5-1 preseason home win against the Detroit Red Wings at PPG Paints Arena, the Penguins reversed course somewhat on those loosened guidelines.

In the wake of announcing Guentzel’s status, coach Mike Sullivan announced the team would resume testing every day. Previously, the team had been testing at a less frequent, but unspecified, rate.

Additionally, Sullivan, defensemen John Marino, Mike Matheson, goaltender Tristan Jarry and Kapanen wore facial coverings during their postgame media availability. Before Sunday, all but one player — forward Radim Zohorna — had been maskless when talking to reporters throughout training camp.

“I think this is the reality of pro sports right now,” Sullivan said. “Until the world gets a handle on this pandemic, we’re all trying to manage through it. I’m not sure there’s a whole lot we can do about other than just control what we can and react the right way. That’s the conversation we’ve had with our players.”

Seemingly one aspect of this that hasn’t had much debate within the NHL is the subject of vaccination.

In September, Bill Daly, the league’s deputy commissioner, told the Associated Press he expected 98% of the NHL Players Association’s (NHLPA) members would be fully vaccinated by the time the regular season opens Oct. 13.

In contrast, there has been far more public discourse over the matter in the NFL and NBA.

That’s not to say there aren’t any dissenting opinions among the NHLPA’s rank and file. Speaking with media in Alberta last week, Edmonton Oilers defenseman Duncan Keith, likely a future member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, critiqued the NHLPA for not pushing back on protocols — agreed to this offseason — that potentially can restrict the earnings of unvaccinated players who miss games for any reasons related to covid-19. Keith described being vaccinated as “frustrating.”

On Sunday, the Oilers announced Keith’s teammate, former Penguins forward Josh Archibald, was diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflation of his heart, after he contracted covid-19 over the summer.

Archibald is not vaccinated.

As for the Penguins, there appears to be little objection, at least openly, to being vaccinated to conduct their business.

“I’m not going to speculate on other sports and what they’re doing and not doing,” forward Jason Zucker said. “For me, it was an easy decision. It’s something that I firmly believe in. I got vaccinated the day I could. My wife did. The day my daughter can, I’ll get her vaccinated. I’m a huge believer in it. I had no problem doing it.”

“The whole conversation around vaccination is such a touchy subject,” Matheson said. “It’s such a personal choice (because) it’s about your own body. … I grew up being vaccinated for a lot of things. I felt like it was important for me to protect myself, protect my teammates and obviously my son. That’s my opinion on it. I understand other people have their own opinion too.”

At the onset of training camp Sept. 23, Penguins general manager Ron Hextall indicated all but one player in the organization was fully vaccinated. Hextall declined to identify that player but said he would be fully vaccinated in a handful of weeks.

The Penguins will open their season in less than a week with a road contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and they might have to do so without two of their top 12 forwards in Aston-Reese or Guentzel, to say nothing of franchise icons Sidney Crosby (left wrist) and Evgeni Malkin (right knee) who are recovering from more traditional maladies related to the rigors of professional hockey.

That’s simply the reality of playing in another “covid season.”

“It’s certainly been a reality for our team to this point,” Sullivan said. “We were able to get through (last) season without a single (player being diagnosed with covid-19). But right now, our team is going to do everything in its power to get ahead of this.”

“It’s clear that it hasn’t gone away yet,” Matheson said. “There’s still a lot of areas in the world that are affected by it, including the (United States) and Canada. We’re super lucky to get to do this every day. Any inconvenience — if you want to call it that — to wear a mask and things like that is pretty minor to continue doing what we do.”

Note: The Penguins had a scheduled day off on Monday.

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