Ben Kuzma: Canucks' possible two-day postponement should be longer
The morning medical expert advice came before the Thursday afternoon decision.
It was welcomed, to a debatable degree, depending on what occurs next with the Vancouver Canucks.
When the NHL announced that Friday’s game with the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Arena has been postponed — following medical evaluations of a roster ravaged by the coronavirus and slow to recover as the outbreak is fuelled by a variant — the move wasn’t that surprising.
It was also encouraging.
However, a great debate could arise when a revised North Division schedule is released Friday. Especially if the league only dials back a Hockey Night in Canada meeting here with the Toronto Maple Leafs from Saturday afternoon to Sunday. That would turn the second scheduled meeting between the clubs on Monday into the sixth back-to-back set on the remaining slate of games. It has been discussed, a source told Postmedia.
The possible two-day break will obviously aid the recovering Canucks, and it’s a step in the right direction. But it should be more.
Why not further delay the double-dip? It would provide the Canucks a much needed five days to fully recover and properly prepare before hosting the Calgary Flames on Wednesday.
While that would cause considerable scheduling consternation — the Canucks and Leafs have few open dates —
t
he NHL and NHL Players’ Association must remain in step with real and critical messaging. The regular season was scheduled to conclude May 8 with the postseason commencing May 11. The Canucks conclude their 56-game slog on May 16 and the Leafs are done May 12.
“The long-term health of the players is the one thing that should drive any decision making,” said Dr. Brian Conway, president and chief medical officer of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre. “In the case of any uncertainty, this is a new disease, and pushing people too hard too fast with an uncertainty, we back off.”
Players were evaluated by the medical team Thursday morning before a closed practice. It came after more Wednesday testing and then an evening teleconference with the NHLPA. All of that was preceded by a passionate
plea from concerned forward J.T. Miller
: “It’s a very extreme scenario and dangerous to a lot of our players.”
Alex Edler, Zack MacEwen, Jayce Hawryluk and Jalen Chatfield have come off the league’s protocol list. Nate Schmidt, Jake Virtanen and Nils Höglander remain on the list, as health concerns for those who could experience long-hauler effects of COVID-19 continues to trump everything — including playing.
What doctors assessed Thursday were rates of recovery from the virus, with what awaits in a demanding and, quite frankly, a somewhat mentally demoralizing return amid the unknown of how they’ll be able to perform.
“They (doctors) look at cardiorespiratory status to ensure that the heart and lungs are able to put out the effort required to play a professional hockey game,” added Conway. “There’s a specific protocol for players who have had a concussion before they can come back. They have to go through a series of exercises to make sure that it’s safe for them to return.
“Right now, we haven’t done that for COVID to my knowledge — set up a protocol that is as rigorous as that for concussions — so that it’s safe to go back and play. Players are exerting themselves in a way that most of us never have to.
“It’s the nature of their jobs and a series of events where you’re extending the effort, and tissue and muscle have to heal. And the cardiovascular system has to recover in order to be able to perform again. You’re compromising that.”
Players have experienced mild to serious virus symptoms while in quarantine; a healthier lineup is encouraging, but many Canucks admit to being far from peak fitness and drained by COVID-19 fatigue. They haven’t played since March 24 and were shut down by the viral outbreak a week later.
“I’ve skated a couple of times and my lungs are screaming,” Miller added in his pointed address. “I’m definitely not in game shape at all from siting around and not doing much. I don’t really feel ready at all, to be quite honest. I’m trying to get my hockey senses back, and the legs aren’t going to be there obviously.”
There’s always a danger of any variant of concern — especially the variant first identified in Brazil (P.1) that’s running like wildfire in the province.
“Unfortunately, that’s one thing we’re lacking information on,” Conway said of the P.1 strain. “We know we have a lot of P.1, but we haven’t counted all of the cases by virtue of the way the system is set up. I would assume there’s a lot more around than we’re being told.”
Conway also believes there should be a finite number of NHL games that can be played in a certain amount of time without compromising long-term health and risking injury. It’s a noble suggestion, but revenues also drive decisions.
“If you have mild symptoms of COVID, the average time to recover from where you were at baseline is about two weeks,” he said. “If you have pneumonia or infection of the lungs, then it’s significantly longer.”
bkuzma@postmedia.com
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