For a brief moment, the Habs didn’t have anyone in COVID protocol. That time has come to an end, however, as the team announced that Cole Caufield and Joel Armia have tested positive and have entered protocol.
Both players will miss a minimum of five days based on the current NHL rules. However, the cross-border rules between the United States and Canada is still 14 days so Caufield and Armia will both wind up missing more than the league-mandated time.
Both players have struggled considerably this season and with Caufield being waiver-exempt, it looked like he was going to be a candidate to be sent down to Laval when Paul Byron and Tyler Toffoli return in the coming days. Instead, they’ll be designated as non-roster players so that roster crunch will be avoided for now.
In the meantime, Michael Pezzetta should suit up tonight in Dallas while Lukas Vejdemo is the lone forward currently on the taxi squad; he and Cedric Paquette have both been banged up recently but one of them will need to return or they’ll need to dress even defencemen.
