The Sharks are preparing as if they’ll play a home game Tuesday night and it appears at least one of their players in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol, defenseman Brent Burns, will soon be able to rejoin the team.
Coach Bob Boughner is anticipating that Burns will be able to practice with the Sharks on Monday after he first entered protocol on Dec. 17 and be available to play Tuesday against the Arizona Coyotes at SAP Center.
However, it is unknown when the Sharks’ three other players in protocol — forwards Tomas Hertl, Jonathan Dahlen and Jasper Weatherby — can skate with the team again. Hertl and Dahlen entered protocol on Dec. 21 and Weatherby entered Dec. 22 after he was assigned by the Sharks to the Barracuda.
Boughner said both Hertl and Dahlen are likely going to miss the Sharks’ game with the Coyotes, although symptomatic players, which Burns, Hertl and Dahlen seem to be, can test out of protocol before the end of their 10-day isolation.
Boughner was hopeful that more than one player in protocol could rejoin the team before Tuesday, he still has to plan as if they could be without Hertl and Dahlen for the game against the Coyotes and beyond.
The Sharks recalled forwards Jeffrey Viel and Jayden Halbgewachs from the Barracuda on Sunday and will be bringing up forwards Nick Merkley and Scott Reedy on Monday, Boughner said. Over 40 more players around the NHL entered protocol Sunday, bringing the league-wide total – including coaches – to over 150.
“We’ve got to figure out what the pieces look like and knock on wood, hopefully, no one else (tests positive),” Boughner said. “I think every coach is going through this. You can’t plan for the next day until you get there.”
Burns has played in 627 consecutive games dating back to Nov. 2013 and has 17 points in 30 games for the Sharks this season. He is also the team’s leader in average time on ice at 25:54 per game.
“He’s feeling good,” Boughner said of Burns. “For the most part, he hasn’t had any crazy symptoms or anything and he’s been working out. I don’t have any worries about (him) being deconditioned.”
The Sharks did not have any other players enter the NHL’s protocol before their practice Sunday as they and other teams throughout the league went through testing prior to taking the ice.
The Sharks were originally scheduled to play the Anaheim Ducks on Monday. The NHL, though, postponed its entire 14-game schedule that day, saying it needed “an adequate opportunity to analyze league-wide testing results and to assess clubs’ readiness to play.”
The decision could almost be considered a blessing for the Sharks as they are already without injured forwards Rudolfs Balcers and Kevin Labanc.
Labanc won’t be back until March at the earliest with a dislocated shoulder and Balcers, still working through a lower-body injury, could be back sometime during the Sharks’ road trip early next month, Boughner said.
The Sharks (15-14-1) enter this week five points back of a playoff spot.
“These next few weeks are going to be tough on everybody,” Boughner said. “If we started again tomorrow against Arizona with all our injuries and COVID and everything else, we’re missing eight guys out of our lineup. That’s not easy to replace, doesn’t matter who you’re playing.
“So the guys that are here and the guys that are working here, it’s an opportunity. We got to find ways to get points in the bank.”
Sharks captain Logan Couture said both Hertl and Dahlen, who have a combined 22 goals and 36 points this season, feel good. Now it’s a matter of trying to get by in the short term without either player.
The Sharks in practice on Sunday had Alexander Barabanov on a line with Couture and Timo Meier, and Nick Bonino center the second line with Halbgewachs and Noah Gregor.
“It’s going to be by committee,” Couture said. “(Hertl) obviously plays big minutes for us. He plays in every situation and also has been a big piece of our offense and power play. It’s an opportunity for other guys to step up – every team’s going through it, not only us.
“It really tests the depth of the team, the organization. We’re going to need guys throughout this organization to step up at different times for us. Our best players have to lead and that’s what’s going to have to happen.”
NOTE: The Barracuda announced Sunday that three more players and an assistant coach have been added to the AHL’s COVID protocol list, and that its game with Bakersfield on Monday has been postponed.
Defensemen Dillion Hamaliuk (effective Dec. 23) and Ryan Merkley, goalie Alexei Melnichuk and assistant coach Michael Chiasson joined defensemen Nick Cicek, and forwards Weatherby and Evander Kane in AHLprotocol.