COVID-19 outbreak continues: 5 Detroit Red Wings added to protocol

The Detroit Red Wings, like many teams, are fighting another outbreak of COVID-19 across the sports world. The number of players put into protocol across the league has been consistently on the rise.

Even Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill has been added to the COVID-19 protocol list along with assistant coach Alex Tanguay, and three other players will be joining them. One of the players being netminder Alex Nedeljkovic, it will certainly make things interesting for the Red Wings moving forward.

The Red Wings are looking to finish the month of December strong and be able to keep the pipe dream of the playoffs alive as they move forward. It will be a matter of making due and getting by while they are without Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen, who entered the protocol last Wednesday.

This is just another round of adversity for the Red Wings to have to battle, something they most certainly don’t need to be dealing with. But, on the bright side, without the Colorado Avalanche to play against, they can try and head into the holidays with hopes to emerge healthier and carry some success into the new year.

The Detroit Red Wings have five more members placed into COVID-19 protocols.

Being without these players and coaching staff, they had to make some call-ups. This includes calling up some members of the Grand Rapids Griffins coaching staff to be able to fill in some of the gaps and have a presence behind the bench.

When it comes to the goaltending situation, the Red Wings called up Calvin Pickard, who has been a familiar face around the Red Wings organization these past few seasons whenever the Red Wings need to call up a goalie.

Riley Barber, a depth addition, gets his call up to fill in the roles of Carter Rowney and Givani Smith, who joined the COVID-19 protocols. Barber is similar to that of Rowney or Erne, except he’s more of an AHL guy who fills in when the team needs a player.

It’s certainly not just the Red Wings who are dealing with this issue. It’s happening across the league and is the reason the league has upped the protocols. Between teams having an outbreak or having to postpone games, there are teams who have had to adjust and overcome losses.

But, anytime a team has to add five or more players to the protocols, it certainly makes things complicated. It seems like things just keep getting dicier, but in due time they will be able to get some reinforcements back, and Blashill will be behind the bench again.