UPDATE: According to a report from The Athletic, Pastrnak is currently under quarantine after coming into contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19, but his agent, J.P. Barry, stated that Pastrnak himself has not tested positive. There is still no definite timeline for Pastrnak's return to the ice.
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For the second day in a row, the Bruins were without a couple of their key cogs up front on Friday, as both David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase were both not present from Day 5 of Boston’s “Return To Play” camp at Warrior Ice Arena.
As we approach almost a week of full-squad workouts, both Pastrnak and Kase have only skated once at Warrior — with both skaters taking part in a small-group session on Wednesday.
As expected, the reasoning for Pastrnak and Kase’s absence on Friday was due to the league’s new “unfit to participate” protocol, with Bruce Cassidy unable to shed any light on his players’ status.
Given the amount of speculation that this new protocol can generate in terms of not dispelling any reasoning for a player’s absence, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that most fears in regards to “unfit to participate” players revolve around complications regarding COVID-19 or other quarantine protocol measures.
While Pastrnak and Kase were given access to Warrior Ice Arena on Wednesday (signifying a passing of required testing and safety measures), photos of the pair both out in the North End and at a local rink does raise a few eyebrows.
Now, granted, even if the NHL’s memo regarding Phase 3 protocols does encourage social distancing, there’s nothing totally preventing a player from being out and grabbing dinner, even if such a move is obviously riskier.
Now, skating elsewhere could actually lead to some ramifications, given that the same memo states that “Players who participate in Phase 3 are not permitted to work out or skate at any public facility or other location, and may not organize any Player skates or group skates outside of the training sessions organized by the Club.”
Speaking following Friday’s practice, Cassidy noted that he doesn’t believe either Pastrnak or Kase have been disciplined by the league, adding that the team itself isn’t holding them out due to any violations.
“No — this isn't personal discipline against those two guys,” Cassidy said. “If anything, when you're out that long, you have to go almost the other way and get them up to speed. So that's not the case. We're not disciplining anybody right now on our team for any individual action. This is all, again, unfit to participate right now and I would love to tell you something different or better, but that's what they're listed as right now.”
Now, Pastrnak and Kase may not have violated the terms dictated in that memo if it was either before Phase 3 got underway on Monday, or perhaps they are only under those conditions once they start Phase 3 practices (Wednesday for both skaters). As such, Cassidy opted to reserve judgment when it came to assessing the actions of his wingers, although adding that the expectation is for players to avoid risky situations through the tumultuous couple of weeks that is this "Return To Play" camp.
"If the league allows them to work out on their own, I'm okay with them trying to get their conditioning where it needs to be. What are the parameters of it? Are they near people that are at risk? Are they social distancing? Are they doing it the right way? So that's the term using — doing it the right way to prepare yourself. Then I'm okay with it," Cassidy said. "If they're not, and they put themselves in harm's way? Then obviously, that's not a good thing.
"I don't want to judge Pasta or Kase without knowing all the facts of what happened before they got here. I know they traveled from Europe, like a lot of guys, they had to quarantine or separate from the team or have X amount of negative tests. So if it's just about having negative tests, and they're allowed to go about their business, then they're allowed to go about their business. If they weren't supposed to, then they shouldn't have been doing it."
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