NHL forces Hurricanes to play shorthanded against the Red Wings

This just in, despite having their game against the Minnesota Wild postponed earlier this week due to a team-wide COVID-19 outbreak, the Carolina Hurricanes will in fact play against the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow evening.

Hurricanes GM Don Waddell said earlier today that his team will play with just 16 skaters against the Red Wings, but then will be allowed to go to a full 18 skaters after playing one game short with 16 players under NHL rules.

“We all talked about this before the season and we knew this was going to happen,” Waddell said in an interview with Chip Alexander of The Raleigh News & Observer. “We’re the first team to face it in this way, and I’m sure we won’t be the last.

“It’s a good challenge. Other than playing short (Thursday) we’ll get a chance to see some of the young players and see where our depth is. Yes, we’re going to have to find a way to score some goals, but I think we’re going to be OK. I feel pretty confident the roster we put out there will be competitive.”

Hurricanes forwards Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis both entered COVID-19 protocol on Monday, with forwards Jordan Staal, Andrei Svechnikov, Steven Lorentz and defenseman Ian Cole joining them all on Tuesday. For those of you counting at home that's six players out due to COVID-19. Yikes.

Meanwhile the league-wide COVID-19 protocol list continues to expand with 27 players now in quarantine.