Penguins adapt to the NHL's latest round of covid-19 protocols

Jason Zucker doesn’t mind social distancing.

At least in one specific instance.

“It’s helped me a lot personally just because I’m further away from ‘Rusty,’ ” the Penguins forward joked in reference to his occasional linemate, Bryan Rust.

“So I don’t have to deal with him as much on a daily basis. That’s honestly been the best part. He’s miserable to be around the room.”

Zucker’s playful ribbing of Rust’s supposedly splenetic nature noted, the Penguins, like all NHL teams, have made adjustment after adjustment to various protocol changes related to covid-19 the NHL has instituted one month into the 2020-21 season.

The latest round of alterations came Thursday. Perhaps the strictest of those rules related to life way from the rink as the league and the NHLPA each called for all players, coaches and other team employees to “be required to remain at home and not leave their place of residence except to attend practices and games, to exercise outdoors on an individual basis, to perform essential activities (e.g., go to the doctor), or to deal with family or other emergencies and other extraordinary circumstances.”

The measure also “recommended” family members or other household members use discretion on activities outside of their domicile. It even called for social engagements of family members to be “be limited as much as possible.”

While previous protocols already outlined fairly cut-and-dry rules for what could and could not happen at the rink, this was the first time the league and NHLPA issued any sort of missive — at least along these lines — on the personal lives of players, coaches and other employees since the early days of the pandemic.

The Penguins seem to already have enacted some sort of unofficial but heavily recommended guidelines in terms of their personal lives since the onset of the season.

“Quite honestly, we’ve been conducting ourselves this way for a while now,” coach Mike Sullivan said via video conference Saturday. “My life has consisted of going to the rink and going home. It’s not like we’re going out to restaurants or anything of that sort, exposing ourselves to unnecessary risk. We’re trying to use common sense and be respectful of the pandemic.”

“It’s not like anything has changed from our standpoint other than the protocols have been put in place, explicitly through the memorandums that have been sent around (by the NHL).”

The Zucker household, which includes his wife and three children, has been doing what it can to limit any potential exposure for the better part of a year.

“For us at home, we really haven’t changed much,” Zucker said. “We’ve been doing the same thing since all of this started. Trying to order groceries with delivery services and things of that sort to try to stay away as far as possible.”

That challenge can be a bit easier for a bachelor.

“For myself, I guess it hasn’t been too difficult,” forward Brandon Tanev said. “I don’t have a family here with me. In that sense, it’s a lot easier for me to go home and be in my own confinement. Whereas other guys have families, wives, young children. Things can become a little bit different.”

To date, only two Penguins — forward Kasperi Kapanen and John Marino — have appeared on the NHL’s list of players withheld from team activities due to covid-19 protocol.

Kapanen’s inclusion on the list was related to the Finn undergoing a quarantine after failing to secure a work visa to enter the United States in a timely fashion. For Marino, he declined to explain how he landed on the list last week.

In contrast, a handful of teams such as the Minnesota Wild and New Jersey Devils have had several games postponed after they had double-digit figures of players wind up on the list.

Three games that were postponed because of the Devils’ issues were against the Penguins.

“It’s something that we all kind of expected throughout this season, obviously with (covid-19),” Zucker said. “The league has to adjust as best they can. I think they’re doing a great job in just trying to make sure that they keep these spreads as minimal as possible.”

Another change limits how much time coaches and players can be around one other. All team and coaches meetings, as well as video sessions, must be performed in a remote manner.

“It’s a big challenge because a big part of coaching, I think, is the human interaction and building relationships with these guys,” Sullivan said. “The human interaction, I think, is a critically important aspect of what we do. But having said that, I also understand the circumstance we’re in.”

It’s likely those circumstances will change, and rules probably will get stricter before they get looser.

The Penguins profess to be ready for any further adjustments.

“We can’t control everything from a protocol standpoint,” Sullivan said. “Those decisions that are made, they are made by the league. I know their intent is in the right place. That’s to try to keep everybody safe. And we’re going to adapt.”

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