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Leagues and Governing Bodies

NHL's Penalties On Capitals Seen As "Wake-Up Call" Around League

Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin was one of four players put on the restricted list after violating protocolsGETTY IMAGES

The Capitals this week were fined $100,000 for violating the NHL's COVID-19 protocols, while four players -- including LW Alex Ovechkin -- were put on the restricted list, and those penalties have "served as a wake-up call" around the league in terms of "how serious the NHL is,” according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun. Many observers noted that players "can’t get into a hotel room (together) when they’re all sitting on the bench together without a mask," but "one doesn’t have to do with the other." LeBrun: "These are the protocols. It’s what the players signed off on when they agreed to play this year. If they didn’t want to play, they could’ve opted out” (“Insider Trading,” TSN, 1/21). THE HOCKEY NEWS' Matt Larkin wrote the NHL "had to make an example of the first team to seriously violate the mandated COVID-19 protocols." Capitals coach Peter Laviolette: "We totally understand why the rules are in place, and there’s no arguing with that. We want to be compliant, and we made a mistake, and we need to do a better job." Larkin wrote the fact that a $100,000 fine "isn’t the most severe punishment" allowable under the NHL's current protocol "sends a stern message on what more severe violations would bring" (SI.com, 1/21).

LEAGUE-WIDE COMPLEX? Predators GM David Poile acknowledged that he was "a bit puzzled by the fine levied against the Capitals considering players are regularly in close contact with one another -- on the ice, on the plane, in hotels." Poile: "I see the same thing. The players are breathing on each other and sitting on the bench. They're talking to each other. That would seem to be a place there would be a high probability (for spreading the virus)." He continued, "We have protocols in written form. ... They're probably three inches thick. So we're trying to do the best we can. ... The NHL is doing the best it can" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 1/22). 

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