NHL game delayed after 5 Sharks & their head coach enter Covid protocols.

The San Jose Sharks have just been decimated by Covid-19.

We have just learned that 5 members of the Sharks roster have entered the National Hockey League's Coivid protocols after a number of positive tests have been discovered in the organization. I say the organization because although we know that there are multiple Sharks players in the protocols, there is at least one positive test within the organization beyond just at the player level.

It has also now been confirmed that head coach Bob Boughner has tested positive for Covid-19 and first and foremost I would like to wish him a full and speedy recovery, hopefully he will be asymptomatic. No word yet on whether or not any other members of the Sharks' staff have come down with the virus at this time.

Thankfully the news has come with the Sharks at home for tonight's game, I imagine it would have been considerably more difficult to adapt to the absence of so many members of their team on the road.

According to National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman the news has resulted in a delay to tonight's game between the aforementioned Sharks and the Winnipeg Jets. I'm not entirely sure how a delay of only 30 minutes is supposed to help in a scenario like this one, but I do empathize a great deal with the Sharks here as they have no doubt been left scrambling in an effort to prepare for tonight's game without several of their players and their head coach.

Update: The Sharks have now officially confirmed the players that will be placed in the league's Covid protocols.

They are:

Andrew Cogliano - Forward

Jonathan Dahlen - Forward

Matt Nieto - Forward

Jake Middleton - Defenseman

Erik Karlsson - Defenseman

Radim Simek - Defenseman

Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Defenseman

Additionally the Sharks have confirmed that their American Hockey League affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, have placed forward Noah Gregor in Covid protocols. The Sharks also reported that head coach Bob Boughner has been placed in Covid protocols, confirming what a number of league insiders had already reported prior to tonight's game.