Canucks’ Luke Schenn and Juho Lammikko have tested positive for COVID-19

The Vancouver Canucks had one of the worst outbreaks of COVID-19 in professional sports last season, with a total of 25 positive cases.

Luke Schenn and Juho Lammikko weren’t with the Canucks for that outbreak. They were both in Florida with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers, respectively. This season, however, Schenn and Lammikko are the first Canucks to test positive for COVID-19.

According to the Canucks, Schenn’s first positive test came back from a test done on Sunday, December 12, according to the NHL’s COVID protocol. That would have been prior to their game against the Carolina Hurricanes but they didn’t receive the positive result until Monday.

That means Schenn played against the Hurricanes on Sunday while positive for COVID-19.

In response, the team did additional testing on Monday and received Lammikko’s positive result Tuesday morning. The team has tested again and expects to receive results prior to Tuesday night’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Hurricanes had positive COVID-19 tests come back after the game against the Canucks. They had recently played the Calgary Flames, who have had a COVID-19 outbreak of their own. Sebastian Aho was held out of the game against the Canucks on Sunday but Seth Jarvis played against the Canucks before both were subsequently added to the NHL’s COVID protocol.

Because Schenn’s first positive test came from before that game, however, the Hurricanes are not the source of the Canucks outbreak.

The Hurricanes reportedly have more positive COVID-19 results. According to Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour, however, the players are not getting sick.

The NHL postponed multiple Flames games after their outbreak. According to The Athletic's Michael Russo, the Hurricanes game against the Minnesota Wild has also been postponed.

As of now, the Canucks’ game against the Blue Jackets is expected to be played as scheduled.

With two players out and limited room under the salary cap, the Canucks have placed Travis Hamonic on Long-Term Injured Reserve to create enough room to call up Phillip Di Giuseppe from the Abbotsford Canucks. That means Hamonic will be out for a minimum of 10 games and 24 days since his injury against the Boston Bruins last week, taking him out of the lineup through the end of December.