The Wild game against Carolina, scheduled for Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center, was postponed after the Hurricanes added to a growing list of NHLers affected by COVID-19.
Four Carolina players tested positive after two others on the team entered the league's COVID protocols on Monday. Forwards Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis had to stay behind in Vancouver where the Hurricanes played on Sunday and are quarantining after testing positive.
Former Wild defenseman Ian Cole and forwards Steven Lorentz, Jordan Staal and Andrei Svechnikov were the latest Carolina players sidelined and will remain in Minnesota for the time being. The team was set to return two players from the COVID protocols, defensemen Tony DeAngelo and Brett Pesce, after both missed seven games.
"Unfortunately, this is the world that we live in," Cole said Tuesday during a Zoom call with reporters before it was revealed he tested positive. "We gotta be careful with it. We don't want it to spread to the whole team. We don't want to get shut down and have to tack on games at the end of the season leading into the playoffs. That's probably worst-case scenario."
St. Paul was the last stop on a five-game road trip for the Hurricanes.
"That's probably the issue," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said before the game vs. the Wild was called off. "I'm no expert obviously, but we go on long trips. All of a sudden, it pops up. You're on the plane stuck together for five, six hours at a time. I think this is where this stuff probably happens."
Like the Wild, the Hurricanes are vaccinated. The NHL is believed to have only one unvaccinated player, Detroit's Tyler Bertuzzi.
Last season, the Wild went on hiatus for almost two weeks after a COVID-19 outbreak reached more than half the roster.