The Washington Capitals have the distinction of being the first team in the NHL to get fined for breaking COVID protocol.

We don’t know the specifics yet; we just the know the cost: $100,000.

Update: Ovechkin, Orlov, Samsonov, and Kuznetsov are unavailable due to the NHL’s COVID protocol.

Second update, 8:10 PM: The Capitals and Alex Ovechkin have released statements.

From the NHL:

NEW YORK (Jan. 20, 2021) – The National Hockey League announced today that it has fined the Washington Capitals $100,000 for Player violations of the League’s COVID‑19 Protocols which involved social interactions among team members who were in close contact and who were not wearing face coverings.

The Capitals spent the last few days in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but returned to DC last night.

Making matters worse, the NHL has listed a “TBA” for “To Be Announced” under Washington on its COVID-related absences list.

In addition, on NHL’s COVID-related absence list: WASH has a “TBA” next to it. NYI’s Josh Bailey added today.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 20, 2021

That list had previously listed “None” for the Caps. We’ll provide an update as soon as we have specifics.

That Caps are scheduled to host the Sabres on Friday. That should be their first home game. Let’s see if it happens.