Detroit — The Red Wings returned to work Sunday, but an extended holiday break didn’t help them in the fight against COVID.
The Wings placed forward Lucas Raymond and defenseman Nick Leddy in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
Seeing Raymond and Leddy join protocol negated some of the good news — forwards Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen were removed from the protocol list.
The list of Wings still in protocol is long.
Head coach Jeff Blashill and assistant coach Alex Tanguay; forwards Adam Erne, Sam Gagner, Pius Suter, Joe Veleno, Carter Rowney, Givani Smith and Filip Zadina; defenseman Jordan Oesterle, goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, and assistant video coach Jeff Weintraub.
Forward Tyler Bertuzzi (the only unvaccinated player in the league) and defensemen Danny DeKeyser and Marc Staal returned from protocol last week.
The Wings, and the rest of the NHL went into a pause Wednesday in hopes of stemming the rapid rise of COVID cases. But judging by reports Sunday around the NHL, the decision wasn’t entirely successful.
All NHL games are postponed until Tuesday. But there’s increasing speculation all games this week might be scrapped, with the NHL returning in big fashion with Saturday’s Winter Classic in Minneapolis between the Wild and St. Louis Blues.
The Wings have had three games postponed, with two more scheduled for this week (Wednesday at New York Islanders, Friday home against Washington).
Blashill is expected to have a Zoom call with media later this afternoon.
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan