It's been nearly two weeks since the Vancouver Canucks last played a game.
The Canucks had multiple games postponed due to positive COVID-19 cases on their own roster, as well as those of their opponents. The NHL postponed more games when they suspended cross-border travel prior to the holiday break, ostensibly to avoid having players potentially get stuck in either the U.S. or Canada and unable to get home to their families for Christmas.
All of their own players returned from COVID protocol this past week and the team travelled to California to play the Anaheim Ducks.
Two players won't be taking the ice for the Canucks, however, assuming the game goes on as scheduled. Brock Boeser and Phillip Di Giuseppe have both entered the NHL's COVID protocol, along with one unnamed staff member.
According to Postmedia's Patrick Johnston, the positive results for Boeser and Di Giuseppe came from PCR tests taken in Anaheim.
Following the NHL's COVID protocol, Boeser and Di Giuseppe will be required to quarantine in Anaheim. The NHL recently revised their protocol to reflect the latest guidelines from the CDC and will only require a five-day quarantine for asymptomatic individuals and then let them leave quarantine with a negative COVID test.
Boeser and Di Giuseppe are currently asymptomatic. Assuming they clear quarantine after five days, they could be eligible to return to the lineup for the Canucks' January 5 game against the New York Islanders in Vancouver, missing three games.
The last time the Canucks had two players test positive for COVID-19 was mid-December when Luke Schenn and Juho Lammikko tested positive. That presaged multiple other players entering COVID protocol and postponing multiple games. It remains to be seen if more players beyond Boeser and Di Giuseppe will test positive in the coming days.
During last season's COVID outbreak, Boeser was one of the few Canucks who never entered tested positive and entered the league's COVID protocol. Di Giuseppe, however, was part of an outbreak on the New York Rangers last season.
Boeser is currently fifth on the Canucks in scoring and had five goals in his last six games. Di Giuseppe had yet to make his Canucks debut after signing with the team in the offseason but had 16 points in 19 games in the AHL for the Abbotsford Canucks prior to being called up to the NHL.
