BUFFALO, N.Y. — In the dim KeyBank Center concourse, Kevyn Adams’ face appeared on nine laptops and his voice echoed through empty ice cream and pierogi stands. As the Sabres general manager talked about the symptomatic COVID-19 cases in his organization and the events that led to them, other sounds emerged.
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Sticks tapped the ice. Pucks caromed off the boards. Players chatted. A coach blew his whistle.
“I sense a relief to be back in our building and to be able to go on the ice and practice,” Adams said Tuesday.
For the first time in eight days, the Sabres gathered and skated. It was a much smaller group than normal with nine players and two coaches absent. But the NHL-mandated shutdown had officially come to an end.
“I’ve been really proud of our players and staff and how since Day 1 of training camp they’ve been following the protocols,” Adams said. “Unfortunately, we have a number of players and staff that are on the COVID protocol list. Some are symptomatic. Some are asymptomatic.
“Rather than kind of looking back and being frustrated or upset, it’s more about let’s move forward and let’s do this together.”
In some regards, that’s easier said than done.
The Sabres’ next game is Monday at home against the Islanders, but they don’t know who will be behind the bench. Coach Ralph Krueger has a confirmed case of COVID-19.
“Ralph is symptomatic,” Adams said. “If he is where we need him to be and he’s able to get out of the protocols and be back, then he will be. If he’s not — the doctors are going to decide where and when that happens — we’ll adjust.”
Assistant coach Steve Smith ran Tuesday’s practice with help from fellow assistant Mike Bales, video coach Myles Fee and director of player development Matt Ellis. Assistant coach Don Granato, who nearly died in 2019 after a bacterial infection of his blood, was not on the ice and might stay away.
“I’ve had some just real honest conversations with Donnie,” Adams said. “He’s an incredibly important part of our staff, but he also can do a lot of his job in other ways. So, do we see if he goes upstairs and not behind the bench? We’ll make those calls as we get closer.”
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It’s a certainty some players won’t be back for the next game. The Sabres have nine skaters unavailable due to COVID-19 protocols: forwards Taylor Hall, Dylan Cozens, Curtis Lazar, Casey Mittelstadt and Tobias Rieder, and defensem*n Rasmus Ristolainen, Rasmus Dahlin, Jake McCabe and Brandon Montour.
With Adams acknowledging that some are symptomatic, it triggers a secondary phase of the return-to-play protocols. A player whose COVID-19 positive status has been confirmed must refrain from exercise for a total of 14 days, starting from the time of the first positive test. Whenever their isolation ends, the players also receive cardiac testing in the form of an electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram and high-sensitivity troponin to see if the disease caused heart damage.
It’s not known which players are symptomatic, but the first Sabres to enter the protocols were Hall and Ristolainen on Feb. 2. That’s 13 days before the game against the Islanders, which doesn’t give any symptomatic players enough time to fit in their 14-day exercise break.
“I can’t get into it, but I can just say that there is staff as well as players in the COVID protocols,” Adams said.
The Sabres are likely to practice with a diminished roster and avoid recalls until the weekend because Rochester has games Wednesday and Friday. Buffalo’s practice group on Sunday will give much more insight into Monday’s potential lineup than this initial gathering of 15 skaters and three goalies.
Regardless, the Sabres will have a different lineup against the Isles than they had for the Jan. 30 and 31 meetings with the Devils, a weekend series that started the COVID-19 chaos.
“We hadn’t had any cases,” Adams said. “Our players have been incredibly disciplined. We come into a situation where, potentially, it was in the New Jersey locker room. And now we are where we are, so there’s certainly the ability to connect the dots.”
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The GM was quick to point out he’s not a doctor and has no proof of on-ice transmission. The Athletic reported the NHL has sent positive samples to the Mayo Clinic for genetic testing, which could determine if the Devils’ strain of the virus transferred to Buffalo.
“I think what you’re going to see is that there’s a lot of learning going on,” Adams said. “Will we learn from our situation? Will the league learn and make changes as we go? That’s likely.”
Adams has been talking with the NHL daily. He also talked with deputy commissioner Bill Daly before the first game against the Devils because Travis Zajac entered the protocols as New Jersey was traveling to Buffalo.
“Based on the information that (Daly) was given, the game on Saturday was decided to be played,” Adams said. “There’s a lot of people involved in these discussions. It’s really being run by the experts, the doctors, the league doctors, the NHLPA doctors are heavily involved, team doctors.
“Nobody’s doing anything that puts the players in a position where they don’t think they should be. They’re making the best decision they can in the moment.”
Before puck drop of the second game, the Devils announced that Kyle Palmieri, who played in the opener, was entering COVID-19 protocols.
“I was not aware,” Adams said. “Our coaches weren’t aware.”
Everyone became aware when 24 players from the Sabres and Devils entered the protocols because of two games that featured questions before being played.
“Based on what we learn, would they go back and say we would have done something different? Possibly,” Adams said. “I promise you this: We all want the same thing. We all want our players to be safe, healthy, to get through this and to eventually get fans in the buildings. I think everybody’s doing their best to work together on that.”
Sorry, Rieder is not here. Cody Eakin is at center.
— John Vogl (@BuffaloVogl) February 9, 2021
For Sabres players, it was clearly nice to be on the ice. Smith called the team to center ice after nearly an hour of work, ending practice with a speech and stick tap.
But no one left. Fifteen minutes after the session concluded, Jack Eichel, Victor Olofsson and Sam Reinhart were passing pucks and taking shots. With 20 minutes elapsed, goalie Jonas Johansson was still facing one-timers. Finally, almost a half-hour after practice ended, Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson flipped the last pucks into an equipment bag and disappeared down the tunnel.
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They’d spent a week in quarantine and were soaking in every minute of being out.
“The spirit of the group is really strong right now,” Adams said. “I also sense an opportunity for this group to pull together and to say, ‘OK, this is challenging. This happened. It’s unfortunate, but we’re going to rally together and go to work.’”
(Photo of assistant coach Steve Smith: Bill Wippert / NHLI via Getty Images)
John Vogl is a senior editor for The Athletic on the universal desk. A sports reporter since 1998, he covered the Sabres for over 20 years. An award-winning journalist, he has also covered minor-league hockey in Georgia, Auburn University football and taught copy editing at Buffalo State College. Follow John on Twitter @BuffaloVogl
