The Penguins made it through the last two seasons without a single in-season positive COVID-19 case.
They now have two in this year's preseason alone.
The Penguins announced prior to Sunday's preseason game against the Red Wings that Jake Guentzel tested positive for COVID-19. They say that he is "being monitored by the Penguins medical staff and will follow the protocols set forth by the National Hockey League."
Guentzel was initially scheduled to play in Sunday's game and was replaced in the lineup by Dominik Simon.
Per the NHL's COVID protocols for this season, a player who is a confirmed positive case must remain in isolation until the following conditions are met:
• If at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared, and at least 24 hours have passed since last fever without the use of fever-reducing medications, and symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath, etc.) have improved (with the exception of continued loss of taste or smell so long as other symptoms have improved
• In addition, the Club Physician, its infectious disease expert, and any other treating physician providing care to the individual, must conclude that the individual no longer presents a risk of infection to others, and that it is medically appropriate (given individual and local circumstances) to terminate the requirement for self-isolation.
• The termination of the isolation requirement is consistent with applicable local public health regulations or other requirements.
Since the NHL protocol requires that players sit out at least 10 days from the onset of symptoms, Guentzel will miss the Oct. 12 season opener in Tampa Bay if he is in anyway symptomatic. If Guentzel is not symptomatic, two he can return to the lineup after two negative COVID-19 tests.
Mike Sullivan didn't have an update after Sunday's game whether Guentzel is experiencing any symptoms.
On the Penguins' opening day of training camp, Ron Hextall said that the Penguins have just one player who isn't yet fully vaccinated, but they expect him to be fully vaccinated "in the next few weeks." Guentzel has done media availability in training camp without a mask, so it's safe to say that he has been vaccinated and this is a breakthrough case because a mask would have been required in that setting if he were unvaccinated.
Guentzel joins Zach Aston-Reese on the Penguins' COVID-19 list after Aston-Reese tested positive on Sept. 27. Aston-Reese is also vaccinated, and Sullivan said that Aston-Reese's case is "mild."
With two COVID cases on the team, the Penguins are ramping up their precautions to prevent the spread.
Sullivan and the players who spoke with the media after Sunday's game were all wearing masks, something they didn't do when speaking after the previous preseason games.
NHL protocols dictate that unvaccinated players be tested every single day, and vaccinated players be tested once a week during the season. Sullivan said Sunday that players and staff will now all be tested on a daily basis, regardless of vaccination status.
"We're going to do everything within our power to try to mitigate the risks," Sullivan said. "We're already in the process of meeting with our team doctors and just talking about re-implementing some of the mitigation strategies that we utilized last year. ... Even our coaching staff is talking about trying to go through some of the things we did last year with respect to social distancing in a locker room and how we hold meetings where we can spread guys out, things of that nature, just to try to mitigate it so that we can try to get on the other side of this thing."
Around the league, there are multiple instances of players who contracted COVID-19 either after choosing to not get vaccinated or before they were able to get vaccinated, and suffered long-term effects. Minnesota's Marco Rossi contracted COVID-19 in November 2020 before there was a vaccine, and missed the entire 2020-21 season due to the heart condition myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. Oilers goaltender Alex Stalock also contracted COVID-19 in November 2020, and is expected to miss the entire 2021-22 season with myocarditis. Oilers forward Josh Archibald chose not to get vaccinated -- the only player on a Canadian team to do so -- and contracted COVID-19 over the summer. It was announced Sunday that Archibald was diagnosed with myocarditis and is out indefinitely.
