NHL News: Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers; Avs’ Gabriel Landeskog in COVID protocol, and Tuukka Rask update
Anthony Scultore
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The NHL COVID list seems to alway get several new names added to it daily. This time two key players have been added.
Jets place Nikolaj Ehlers in COVID protocol
Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol Monday.
Ehlers joins three teammates in the protocol: defenseman Dylan DeMelo, center Jansen Harkins and goaltender Arvid Holm.
Ehlers is third on the Jets with 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists). He was scoreless with four penalty minutes in a 7-1 drubbing suffered against Colorado on Thursday.
The Jets are scheduled to play at Detroit on Thursday, the opener of a five-game road trip.
Ehlers has 328 points (149 goals, 179 assists) in 449 career games with Winnipeg, which selected him No. 9 overall in the 2014 draft.
Avalanche place Gabriel Landeskog in COVID protocol
Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol Monday, the same day he was named the league’s First Star of the Week.
Landeskog recorded seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last three games. The forward highlighted that stretch with his fourth career hat trick in the Avalanche’s 7-1 romp over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
The 29-year-old Swede has 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) in 26 games this season.
Landeskog has 547 points (232 goals, 315 assists) in 713 career games since being selected by Colorado with the second overall pick of the 2011 NHL Draft.
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Tuukka Rask next steps
Tuukka Rask signed a professional tryout contract with Providence of the American Hockey League last Thursday, marking his first step toward a return to the NHL.
Rask, 34, is an unrestricted free-agent goaltender who is working his way back from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip. He played in only 24 of Boston’s 56 games last season, posting a 15-5-2 record with two shutouts, a .913 save percentage and a 2.28 goals-against average.
“I feel great,” Rask said via NHL.com. “The biggest issue for me was the catching of the joint and the pain that that created. So that was gone.”
Providence will play on Friday, but there is no word whether or not Rask will see game action.
“So we’ll have to discuss whether that’s in play or right into our net at some point,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “So that’s what the discussion will entail, but we have a few days to sort through that so I imagine we’ll get to it tomorrow or Wednesday.”
–Field Level Media contributed to this report