BREAKING: NHL To Relax Testing Following All-Star Break

On Tuesday, the NHL along with the NHLPA have agreed to update the league’s COVID-19 procedures following the NHL All-Star Break. Testing for vaccinated asymptomatic players will not be required, unless there is cross-border travel or if symptoms are present.

The @NHL and @NHLPA issue update on COVID Protocol. https://t.co/UJJKG5kQAd pic.twitter.com/5B2WonJJuh

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 18, 2022

To add to this, vaccinated players that are attending the All-Star festivities in Las Vegas, along with their traveling party, will be tested upon arrival and not again, unless symptoms arise.

There will be one final test upon players and staff’s arrival back to facilities.

” I think it’s probably a good thing,” New York Islanders forward Matt Martin said Tuesday morning before the news became official. “A lot of us have already added and then obviously what is it 90 days, we’ll be right around playoff time again.”

“Then guys will probably start getting pulled out of games even if they’re feeling okay, so I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

This change in procedure has been one that many players and coaches had been asking for. It’s been a frustrating road for many teams to not have players in the lineup that have the capability to play, who feel 100%.

Recently, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov lost his Iron Man streak of 403 games due to a positive COVID-19 test. He was asymptomatic throughout his stay in protocol and was adamant about his displeasure with the current protocols the NHL has in place.

If it’s a broken bone or a broken leg or something like that, then at least you can say, ‘OK, yeah, I can’t play through that and I can live with that.’ But if it’s just a flu that has 99.9 percent survival rate, then everyone should play,” Provorov said. “Because when other teams play against us with the stomach flu, for some reason they’re not canceling games. So why are they not letting us play or canceling games now?”

The NHL and the NHLPA will meet on Jan. 31 to discuss these new procedures.