Detroit Pistons player, who shares facilities with the Red Wings, test positive for coronavirus.

The Detroit Red Wings may have a serious cause for concern on their hands in spite of the fact that the National Hockey League and commissioner Gary Bettman acted quickly and decisively earlier this week when they suspended play for the 2019 - 2020 NHL regular season. 

According to a report from the Associated Press, an anonymous source has now confirmed that Detroit Pistons player Christian Wood has tested positive for the coronavirus. The Detroit Pistons themselves had not disclosed the information regarding Wood's positive test, a rather scary thing to keep a secret, but since this story broke the Pistons have confirmed that one of their players is in fact infected with the virus that is currently causing panic in several countries around the globe.

“A player on the Detroit Pistons, who is under the care of team medical staff and in self-isolation since Wednesday night, was tested for COVID-19," said the Pistons in a statement. “A preliminary positive result came back on March 14. The health and safety of our players, our organization, those throughout our league, and all those potentially impacted by this situation is paramount."

The story is of course troublesome for the Detroit Red Wings as the players from both the Pistons and the Red Wings both play at Little Caesars Arena, meaning that the NHL players on the Red Wings roster were potentially put in danger prior to the season being shut down. Additionally it seems likely that we know the source of Wood's infection given that the Pistons recently played the Utah Jazz in a game where Wood was matched up frequently against Jazz player Rudy Golbert. Golbert of course made national headlines after he touched every microphone and recorded during a media availability as a "prank" prior to being diagnosed himself with the virus. Golbert is suspected of also having infected fellow Jazz teammate Donovan Mitchell, so I suspect that many will point to him as the source for Wood's infection as well. 

So far the NHL and their players have been fortunate with no players testing positive thus far, or at least none being announced publicly. Hopefully things will remain that way for the foreseeable future, a situation that would make it much easier for the NHL to resume their season.