CRANBERRY, Pa. -- It would appear to have been a most unsettling scenario, the Penguins opening their first training camp in a pandemic with more than a quarter of the roster held out over coronavirus precautions.
But the closer inspection isn't nearly as ominous.
Fourteen minutes before the opening hourlong, high-tempo practice of camp Monday morning at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, the team emailed the following: "The Pittsburgh Penguins will be voluntarily sidelining nine players from their training camp roster due to potential secondary exposure to an individual who had contact with a person that has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The team learned of the possible secondary exposure on Sunday, July 12. The decision to isolate this group of players was made out of an abundance of caution in an effort to avoid exposure to anyone else within the organization. The nine players will not participate until they are deemed safe in accordance with NHL protocol and further test results."
The team didn't list the names, but the players absent from the practice setting here were Patric Hornqvist, Anthony Angello, Adam Johnson, Samuel Poulin, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Philip Varone, Sam Miletic, Juuso Riikola and Alex D'Orio.
There was no further word from the Penguins, and reporters were informed before the post-practice interviews that the team wouldn't take questions but would instead defer to the NHL on all injury/illness issues, as had been made clear in protocol a week ago. The league has yet to comment in any capacity.
Of the above players, only Hornqvist is a lineup fixture.
Three phrases in the team's statement stood out:
• "Potential secondary exposure" isn't exposure. It isn't even secondary exposure. It's potential secondary exposure. Undoubtedly worth emphasizing.
• "Voluntarily" and "abundance of caution" powerfully suggests the Penguins went well beyond protocol in making this move. In fact, the announcement itself was beyond protocol, undoubtedly to allay any potential panic.
• "The nine players will not participate until they are deemed safe in accordance with NHL protocol and further test results." There's zero mention of a quarantine in the statement, and that's significant as a quarantine would mean a player is locked down for 14 days. Instead, there's a reference to "further test results," which could mean a simple clearance would suffice for a return to action.
For what it's worth, Sullivan did use the term 'quarantine' in the following response to a reporter's question about the absences after the practice: "As far as the news we got and the decision that was made to quarantine the players out of caution, it's just going to be part of this process. We've talked about it as a staff, the potential scenarios that could arise, and how we would handle and react to them. It's just one of those things where we've got to be ready to adjust, to adapt. And that's what we did out there today."
I checked with the team after that to see if any clarification was needed for Sullivan's use of 'quarantine,' and I was told the team is using it interchangeably with isolation.
Sullivan was asked to describe his general level of optimism that the NHL plan to play through a pandemic will succeed.
"Well, I'm real optimistic," he replied without hesitation. "I think the league has done a terrific job of rolling out certain protocols, with some of these potential circumstances in mind, to mitigate the risk as best they can. My hope is -- and I'm certainly optimistic -- that we'll all get to the hub city, in a secured zone, and compete for the Stanley Cup."
The hub cities are Toronto and Edmonton. The Penguins will travel to Toronto on July 26.
"My optimism hasn't changed at all," Sullivan added.
Crosby remarked on Hornqvist's absence when it was brought up.
"Everybody knows Horny, what he brings on and off the ice," he answered. "I think it's always noticeable when he's not there. But that being said, I think there was energy today. Guys were excited to be back together. We were all here, but a lot of us weren't able to spend time together because of the small groups. It was nice to have some normalcy that way."
I asked Crosby about pushing through.
"It's just a matter of working together and finding ways to be safe and be able to play," he answered. "Whether you're a player or fan, you miss the game, but you also have to understand the seriousness of what's going around here. You just have to find a balance for that. ... You have to be able to adapt and make sure that safety is most important and everyone's health. I think, other than that, this'll just become our new normal. And we'll handle it."
And is he optimistic it'll work?
"Yeah, I'm optimistic. I think it'll be an important time here the next few weeks, to make sure we're doing our best to stay out of trouble that way. But we're getting tested every second day here, I think, everyone's on top of it and making sure we're social-distancing and all that stuff ... so, we're doing everything we can do to avoid it. Hopefully, that's able to be a success, and we can get to the bubble healthy."
