Two more Oilers added to Covid protocol list.

The Edmonton Oilers are adding even more players to the Covid protocol list as the situation in the National Hockey League continues to spiral out of control.

The latest on this front comes to us courtesy of Edmonton Oilers insider Mark Spector, with Spec reporting that both veteran defenseman Darnell Nurse and defenseman William Lagesson have landed on the list. The news comes after a huge number of players from around the NHL have landed in Covid protocols over the last several days, and it comes after there were concerns about getting Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi back home to Canada over the weekend after he tested positive while in the United States of America.

This is of course not an ideal scenario for the Oilers, especially the loss of a player like Darnell Nurse that is a critical component of their blue line on a nightly basis, but the timing of the news probably could not have come at a better time. As a result of numerous games being delayed around the league, as well as a number of teams being shut down entirely, the Oilers have a significant period of time ahead of them to get healthy.

NHL insider Frank Seravalli was actually the first to break the news regarding additional positive cases in Edmonton this morning, although he did not name the players at the time, but he also accurately pointed out that the Oilers don't play again until the 27th of December, which gives them a full week to get their players out of Covid protocols before they must once again hit the ice.

That is of course assuming that we don't see additional delays beyond that date, a possibility that the NHL is clearly keeping open given the wording they have used when announcing official postponements and shutdowns over the weekend. In every one of those cases the league has made it clear that both the NHL and the National Hockey League Players Association will have to make a determination before teams are allowed to return to play, and even before they can return to their practice facilities in some cases.