Three more players from the Boston Bruins and one member of the staff have been placed in COVID protocols, the team announced on Thursday.
Trent Frederic, Anton Blidh and Jeremy Swayman now join a growing group that are in quarantine.
Craig Smith and Brad Marchand were placed in the protocols on Tuesday ahead of the Bruins’ game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Patrice Bergeron was put in protocols on Wednesday.
With the three players unavailable for tonight’s game against the New York Islanders, the Bruins called up forward Jesper Froden and goaltender Kyle Keyser from the AHL.
Should the Bruins play tonight against the Islanders?
There certainly is a strong argument to be made that in order to stop the spread of the positive COVID tests, postponing the game tonight makes the most sense.
All around the NHL, cases are popping up and forcing teams to place numerous members in isolation. The Calgary Flames, who the Bruins played on Saturday and likely is the root of the issue for the Bruins, have had games postponed with their numbers in the double-digits. The Carolina Hurricanes are likely to play Thursday short two skaters due to their COVID issues.
And even the Islanders are dealing with their own problems, with Mat Barzal being placed into COVID protocols. You would think the Islanders would prefer not to have any more cases on their hands as they were one of the first times where it was a serious problem this season, having postponed two previous games.
If the game does go on, which could be likely, Froden would be making his NHL debut. The Swedish forward signed a one-year contract this offseason after playing two seasons in Sweden’s SHL. This year for Providence, Froden has 13 points in 21 games.
The same goes for Keyser, who if he does start, would be making his NHL debut, but that’s highly unlikely. The Bruins still have Linus Ullmark available, who has played strongly as of late and likely was going to be the starter tonight anyway. Keyser has posted a 2.44 GAA and .914 SV% in 12 starts in Providence this season.
We figured the cases would be growing, and here we have it. It likely won’t be the last Bruins placed in protocols. It’s a question now of how many more before the NHL puts a pause on games for the Bruins, or even the league.