Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese tests positive for covid-19

Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese has tested positive for covid-19 and has entered the NHL’s protocol for the virus.

Coach Mike Sullivan announced Aston-Reese’s status following a morning skate at PPG Paints Arena in advance of the team’s preseason opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.

Aston-Reese was not scheduled to be in the lineup.

On Thursday, general manager Ron Hextall said only one player in the organization had not yet been fully vaccinated. That player, whom Hextall declined to identify, was scheduled to have his vaccination completed in a “few weeks” according to Hextall.

Sullivan was uncertain as to what Aston-Reese’s status might mean for teammates or team staffers who may have been in close contact with Aston-Reese.

“I don’t know if I have an answer for you right now,” Sullivan said. “What I will tell you is we have so much faith in our medical staff and our team doctors. These guys are on top of this stuff. I think they do a terrific job behind the scenes. We’ll follow the NHL’s protocols. We’ll monitor the contract tracing and all of those things that are associated with the protocols. We’ll have to wait and see. I think our team overall has done a really great job with respect to this stuff. It’s remarkable to think that since the beginning of this pandemic that this is the first covid case we’ve had as a group. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it stops there.”

The Penguins had a number of players enter the NHL’s protocol for covid-19 during the 2020-21 season but the exact nature of those circumstances was never revealed.

Riikola returns

Defenseman Juuso Riikola played his first game of any type since Jan. 19.

His 2020-21 regular season was limited to two games after he suffered an undisclosed injury in mid-January.

By the time Riikola had fully recuperated, the Penguins’ blue line was fairly healthy and as a result, he was a spectator for the overwhelming bulk of the campaign.

“Juuso, I think, got a real stroke of bad luck last year,” Sullivan said. “When we got banged up early in the season at that position, I think Juuso would have had a great opportunity to play and play a significant amount of games. He ended up getting hurt himself. Unfortunately, it robbed him of that opportunity. We really like Juuso as a player. He’s a great teammate. He went through a difficult circumstance last year. That’s not easy being on the sidelines. All these players want to play. They’re proud guys. Juuso handled it extremely well and professionally and was a great teammate along the way. That doesn’t go unnoticed amongst our coaching staff and our management team.”

In three NHL season, Riikola, 27, has played in only 75 games, all with the Penguins.

Despite such a meager body of work, Sullivan doesn’t view the left-handed Riikola as a lost cause, even if the Penguins have a logjam of NHL-caliber defensemen on the port side of the blue line.

“He’s a guy that skates really well,” Sullivan said. “He’s a player that could help us on the power play, he can really shoot the puck, he can help us on a breakout using his speed and his stick skills to make that first pass to help us exit our zone. He should have the ability to join the rush. I think he’s a guy with the offensive instincts that he has, I’d like to see it translate into goals and assists. That’s something that we’ll watch moving forward. Then he has the ability to defend using his strengths. He’s not a big strong guy. We don’t expect him to be a real overly physical guy. But he’s got to be able to play with some bite and have some competitiveness on the other side of the puck. And defend well. He can use his stick, he can use his brains, he can use his skill set, his mobility to win puck battles and help us get the puck so we can get back on the offense and on the attack.

“I also think he has the ability to play the off side. He hasn’t done a lot of it. But I do think with his skating ability and his puck skills, I’d like to think he’s a guy that could play the off side if we need him. That’s a valuable asset as well.”

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