Home / News / Over half of the Capitals starting lineup has entered COVID protocol this season. We haven’t hit the halfway point of 2021-22 yet.

Over half of the Capitals starting lineup has entered COVID protocol this season. We haven’t hit the halfway point of 2021-22 yet.

By Ian Oland

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December 27, 2021 5:29 pm

The Washington Capitals have been racked by COVID-19 like almost every other NHL team this season. Nine Capitals players are currently out due to the virus and league-wide, well over 100 players are unavailable. The Capitals added six new players to the list on Monday.

To truly put in perspective how transmissible this virus has been among Capitals players (who are all vaccinated), we put a chart together of the Capitals’ normal starting lineup, but listing only the players’ names who have not entered COVID-19 protocol this season.

Sixty-two percent of the Capitals’ starting lineup has been in protocol this season. Only two forwards have avoided protocol or time missed due to injury: Alex Ovechkin and Carl Hagelin.

Since November 15 when Lars Eller was forced to quarantine in Anaheim due to COVID-19, 13 Capitals players have entered the NHL’s COVID-19 Unavailability List during a span of 42 days.

Two other reserves that have played games for the Capitals this year, Dennis Cholowski and Michael Sgarbossa (false positive), have spent time in protocol as well as coaches and members of the Capitals traveling party.

The Hershey Bears, the Caps’ AHL affiliate, has not been spared either, having five of its games postponed in late November and early December. Their first practice back on December 5 was sparsely attended.

Every player on the Capitals is vaccinated though it’s unclear how many have received booster shots.

“There’s not a lot of sense in talking about it,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said on Monday when asked about the outbreak. “We know we’ve got a game to play coming up. We know we gotta get ready, can’t be any excuses in regard to that game. We gotta go out and play hard.

“We’re dealing with some stuff and everybody else is dealing with some stuff,” he added. “We’ll get ourselves ready and get ready for the next game.”

The Capitals’ next game is on Wednesday against the Nashville Predators. The team will sport a mish-mosh roster of NHL and AHL players if the game is not ultimately postponed.

Headline photo: Pixabay

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