Brad Marchand knows full well that the 2022 Winter Olympics could have been his first — and final — shot at gold-medal glory with Team Canada.
Even though Marchand has staked his claim as one of the best wingers in the game for years now, a number of unfortunate circumstances have prevented him from playing for and representing his country on one of athletics' highest stages.
After the NHL canned player participation in the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, the NHLPA harped on the desire to return to the tournament in 2022 — with the NHL making such a concession when hammering out the details of a CBA extension back in 2020.
But due to the growing number of COVID cases around the globe — along with both the restrictive quarantine measures in China and the complications brought upon by multiple postponed games over the past week — the NHL made the call to once again prevent players from participating in the Olympics this February.
While the rationale behind such a decision is pretty sound, it’s still an extremely tough pill to swallow for many NHLers — be it young stars set to make their Olympic debut like Connor McDavid, David Pastrnak, Auston Matthews and Charlie McAvoy, or veterans looking for a last hurrah like Sidney Crosby.
But players like Marchand and Victor Hedman are in an especially unfortunate class — standing as a pair of established stars that have yet to play in the Olympics, but are also at the age where such an opportunity may not come around again in 2026.
As such, it was far from a surprise that the 33-year-old Marchand was soundly disheartened by the NHL’s actions.
“It's very disappointing. That's something that was promised and part of the CBA when we last signed the deal — almost felt like they were trying to get out of it for a while and they didn't want us to go,” Marchand said. “There should be something in place or put in place where we should be able to go and experience that and guys worked their entire lives (for it). And I know at the end of the day — they don't care about the Olympics, they don't make money on it. And that's ultimately what this is — it's a business. And we're an asset — let's just call a spade a spade. They don't want to risk us getting hurt over there. So that's obviously part of it.
"It should be the player's option to go play in the tournament. It's the Olympics, it's the best of the best. If you've earned the right and you've earned the opportunity to go there, you should have the option to go play. So it's extremely disappointing that the players aren't going. I think guys have worked their entire lives, put themselves in a position to compete at that level, in that opportunity. And it should be guys' decisions whether they choose to go or not, regardless of what's happening in the world. If the Olympics are on and they're playing — the best players in the world should have that option. So it's tough to deal with."
B’s return to practice, but Coyle enters COVID protocols
The Bruins are potentially going to be without yet another top-six forward for the next couple of games.
The Bruins announced on Sunday afternoon that Charlie Coyle has been placed in COVID-19 protocols, marking the 11th B’s player that has landed on the COVID list since this recent outbreak first commenced on Dec. 14.
Due to the current COVID-19 protocols in place, Coyle will be subjected to a 10-day quarantine, although he could test out earlier if he passes the required number of tests. Despite landing in COVID protocols on Dec. 18, Curtis Lazar managed to avoid the 10-day waiting period and practiced on Sunday afternoon at Warrior Ice Arena due to posting several negative tests.
"I don't know what the exact rules on that are if you're asymptomatic. Maybe you're allowed to do that or no matter what. Not sure," Bruce Cassidy said. "But that's what happened with him. So good for him. I know he didn't have symptoms or very mild when I was originally informed. So, nice to have him back out there."
If Coyle must remain in a 10-day quarantine, he is slated to miss at least six games — so long as the Bruins go ahead with the current games marked on their schedule.
The NHL had already backtracked a bit on its plan to resume action right after the holiday break, postponing all games scheduled for Dec. 27 (including Boston’s home matchup against Pittsburgh) — although Wednesday’s road game in Ottawa on Dec. 29 still remains on the docket.
With the Bruins resuming testing ahead of Sunday’s scheduled practice — the franchise’s first on-ice session since Dec. 16 — it was to be expected that more positive cases would sprout up.
Across the league, 42 total players entered COVID protocols on Sunday — including four teams that previously did not have any players in protocol going into this recent holiday break.
Even with Coyle now on the shelf, the B’s did at least get some good news on Sunday in regards to the players that have been given the green light to skate — with seven players on the COVID shelf taking to the ice again in Marchand, Lazar, Craig Smith, Patrice Bergeron, Trent Frederic, Anton Blidh and Jeremy Swayman.
Taylor Hall, Oskar Steen, Brandon Carlo and now Coyle remain in COVID-19 protocol.
As expected, there’s plenty of moving parts that still need to be sorted out in the coming days, especially for a team like Boston that’s gearing up for a game north of the border.
Even though guys like Marchand and Smith should be in the clear to play against the Senators if that game goes on as scheduled, the current COVID quarantine rules in place up in Canada could limit just how many players Boston can bring from this group of seven returning players.
Currently, visitors are not permitted into Canada until at least 14 days after testing positive for COVID.
"If Ottawa gets canceled, we have a six-day window here to kind of have guys filtering in that we can use like training camp," Cassidy said. "If Ottawa doesn't (get postponed), then obviously we're going up there with part of our lineup and you lose a bit of that ability to work on back to basics every day for three or four days.
"You'd be obviously focusing on Ottawa as early as (Monday) because today was more about get your legs, move and get back on the ice, feel the puck. (On Monday), we're going to hopefully have a better idea what's going to happen."
Here is the lineup from Sunday’s skate.
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk - Erik Haula - Craig Smith
Nick Foligno - Trent Frederic - Curtis Lazar
Anton Blidh - Tomas Nosek - Karson Kuhlman
Matt Grzelcyk - Charlie McAvoy
Derek Forbort - John Moore
Mike Reilly - Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman
Rask could be ready for game action in 3 weeks
As far as the worst-kept secret in the NHL regarding Tuukka Rask’s inevitable return to the Bruins, Cassidy noted that the veteran free-agent netminder could be cleared for game action in as little as three weeks.
Rask once again practiced with the Bruins on Sunday as continues to rehab from offseason hip surgery.
"I was told that the earliest he’d be cleared to play would be when we get back from there," Cassidy said of Boston's three-game trip to Tampa Bay, Washington and Montreal from Jan. 8-12. "That's why that practice was important… I know that's been discussed - how do we get him live action when we're on the road and limited practice…he would need that second week. "I think after that, if he comes out of that OK, then you look at a guy that could be cleared to play."
According to Cam Neely, the Bruins have not had formal contract discussions with Rask and his representatives quite yet.
NHL announces roster-relief measures
With more positive cases and roster crunches all but guaranteed in the coming days and weeks, the NHL and NHLPA announced a number of CBA exemptions on Sunday in order to give teams a bit more flexibility in case multiple players land on the COVID shelf.
The most noteworthy adjustment is the return of temporary taxi squads — which will remain in effect through at least the All-Star break. The taxi squads can hold a maximum of six players, and players can only be on it for no more than 20 days.
Players on the taxi squad can travel and practice with the NHL roster — and will be available in case of a shortage due to COVID protocols. Players on the taxi squad will count as being in the minors for cap purposes.
Other exemptions include the ability to add another goaltender to the roster when two regulars are not available — and an emergency cap exemption in which teams can make emergency recalls if they're in danger of dressing fewer than two goalies, six defensemen or 12 forwards in a game. Emergency recalls can be made of players with salary-cap hits of up to $1 million, an increase from the previous $850,000 limit.
As of right now, the NHL has not made any changes to their COVID testing protocols — even as both the NFL and now the NBA have either already augmented their testing measures or are in the process of doing so.
While Marchand understands the complexities that come with the situation as far as testing goes, he added that the writing seems to be on the wall that the NHL will eventually need to take a similar course when it comes to focusing more on players/staff with visible symptoms.
“It's tough — this whole thing's tough,” Marchand said. “Because there's obviously a valid argument on both sides where this could be the new norm with the variant coming around every year, and it's something we're going to have to live with. And we can't be kind of doing this year in and year out and every day. At some point, we have to get back to some normalcy.
“Guys have done what they're supposed to do and get vaccinated and all that stuff. And at some point, we got to kind of get back to normal. ... Other leagues have gone to the testing if you have symptoms, but otherwise, if you're asymptomatic, you just kind of go about your day. And we definitely have to get to that. The NBA is there, the NFL is going there now and we're going to be next. So it needs to get there soon. We can't continue to have holdups in the league. If guys are fine. There's no reason that they shouldn't be able to play.”