WASHINGTON — The NHL is relaxing virus protocols for teams that reach a threshold for vaccination, just in time for the playoffs.
The changes are outlined in a memo viewed by The Associated Press that the league sent to teams and players Friday night. The new protocols take hold once 85% or more of the traveling party has been fully vaccinated. For a team with 56 members in its traveling party, 48 would need to be fully vaccinated.
“It could be really big, I think, just for the mindset of the players, more than anything, just to get back to some sort of normalcy,” Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said Saturday. “The playoffs are a grind, just like this season has been, so any type of getting your mind away from it by being around the guys I think will help.”
The changes include loosened restrictions on indoor and outdoor dining, testing frequency and mask-wearing and quarantine requirements.
According to the memo, fully vaccinated individuals can dine outdoors or inside (in a private section or room with masked servers), visit each other's hotel rooms, go golfing and have other social gatherings without masking or distancing requirements. They also won't have to quarantine for potential exposure or be subject to testing on off days, and in some cases rapid tests prior to games.
“The only thing we’ve missed is those team bonding (meals), going out to dinner and kind of going to those small-group type things where you really get to know a teammate that way,” veteran Washington Capitals goaltender Craig Anderson said Saturday. “As far as meals at the hotels and whatnot, we still can kind of get together for the most part and it feels for the most part as normal as can be considering the circumstances.”
The league had maintained strict COVID-19 rules since the start of the season and added more protections in February when cases were increasing. Team staff and family were instructed Feb. 11 to avoid public settings and even get groceries delivered, restrictions that have been in place since.
"We’ve been in total isolation," Vegas Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner said last month. “We can’t get out of our house. We can’t go out of our hotel. We can’t do anything. And it’s been over a year now, and no one ever talks about the mental health impact about that stuff.”
The NHL is the last of the major four North American pro sports leagues to announce plans to relax virus protocols for teams based on vaccination levels. As of Friday, five of Major League Baseball's 30 teams had reach the 85% vaccinated level to relax protocols.
This move is likely to affect the 12 U.S. playoff teams first because vaccinations have lagged for those in Canada. As of Friday, roughly a third of those in the U.S. are fully vaccinated compared with just more than 3% in Canada.
“It all comes down to the government guidelines, and it’s out of our control,” U.S.-born Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck said earlier this season. “You definitely see the States getting out the vaccinations well and it’s very good, very nice, and it’d be nice to see that in Canada, but I don’t know the logistics of it all.”
Along with players, coaches and other staff, fully vaccinated officiating crews also can also take advantage of the relaxed protocols if both teams of the playoff series they are working are also considered fully vaccinated.
“It’ll be great," Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei said. “It’ll be nice for us to be able to go out for lunch or dinner and sit out on a patio. We haven’t been able to do that for a while. Just to get that team bonding, that part of it. We’ve obviously been together the whole year and been in the hotel rooms together. But, yeah, it’ll be awesome to get outside and get some fresh air.”