CALGARY — Managing a brief chuckle in the midst of a general manager’s nightmare, Brad Treliving described the scene in his office.
“My room looks like a scene from A Beautiful Mind,” said the Calgary Flames GM, referring to the endless notations surrounding him. “This has been an interesting 24 hours, that’s for sure. Just when you think we’re through it, you aren’t.”
The NHL announced Monday morning that six Flames players and a member of the training staff had entered the league’s COVID-19 protocol, prompting the postponement of the team’s three games slated for Monday through Thursday.
The events leading up to that announcement made up one of the craziest days in franchise history.
Here’s how it all unfolded, detailing the anatomy of a GM’s nightmare.
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It started after Saturday’s home loss to the Boston Bruins when results from that morning’s tests came back in the middle of the night. Three players woke up Sunday morning to the news they had tested positive for COVID-19.
That prompted the team to re-test those players later Sunday morning, for fear of a false positive like the one Oliver Kylington had a scare with last week.
“It was then we started making plans to replace those guys on the roster if they were still positive,” said Treliving, whose club was still awaiting those test results as they boarded the chartered plane scheduled to fly to Chicago Sunday afternoon for Monday’s game.
“We’re all loaded up and getting confirmation on those tests and they come back confirmed. While everyone’s sitting there we test everybody again. So, then, does it make sense to leave?
“It’s challenging because you’re trying to get to a game. We’re all creatures of habit and we get pissed when it’s five minutes late.
“Finally we decide, ‘Why don’t we wait to get everyone’s test results back?’ So around 2:30 everyone gets off the plane and we push the flight back.”
The players and staffers were told to go home and await further instructions on what time the team would fly out later Sunday night.
Meanwhile, team officials were scrambling to iron out the details of delaying the flight, which included various obstacles involving pilot hours and the logistics involving clearing customs late at night.
As the evening progressed, it started to look like the team would have to fly out Monday morning — something the league only allows if absolutely necessary.
That’s when the bombshell dropped that four more had tested positive, changing everything.
The league had been involved in the process all afternoon, but with seven positive tests and the likelihood more positive tests could be forthcoming, the league made the decision to cancel the game in Chicago, as well as Nashville Tuesday and Toronto Thursday.
That news came just before midnight Sunday.
“In a 12-to-15-hour period we went from zero to seven positives,” said Treliving, who spent the episode in his office, trying to coordinate from afar, as he wasn’t scheduled to go on this trip. “It shows how quickly it can spread and the likelihood of more positives potentially once we cross the line (the U.S. border).”
The right call was made.
“It’s probably better we’re here than across the (border) right now,” said Treliving, well aware that if positive results were unveiled once they arrived in Illinois those players would have had to remain there for 14 days.
“We’re dealing with it.”
On Monday morning the players were tested once again, as were their families and close contacts, keeping management on pins and needles as they awaited results.
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Expect more of the same the rest of the week, with the results dictating whether it’s possible or prudent for the remaining players to return to practice Friday at WinSport, ahead of Saturday’s scheduled home game against Columbus.
“You’ve just got to deal with it as it comes,” said Treliving, looking around the room at his whiteboard and notes with plans to deal with all the moving parts today and in the days ahead. “Everybody’s health and safety is paramount. Priority right now is monitoring guys and making sure they are safe and healthy, as are their families.”
Treliving said all seven people were asymptomatic as of Monday morning, something you’d like to think could remain that way given the heath of these young athletes and the fact all are double vaccinated. But nothing is guaranteed, especially with the relatively new Omicron variant.
As per Alberta and league health guidelines, none of them can exit isolation before a full 10 days from the time of the positive swab. It means the team’s leading goal scorer, top centre and best defenceman won’t return until the Dec. 23 game at the earliest.
The rest of the lads have also been ordered to stay away from the Saddledome, where all team facilities were ordered closed.
“We’ll see,” Treliving said when asked if he thought the rest of the players would really be back to playing as soon as Saturday. “I’m looking small picture.”
He certainly agreed with the league’s decision Sunday night.
“It’s hard, in a lot of ways, to push back games,” Treliving said. “We have a compressed schedule, and we have health and safety, and we’re balancing that. You don’t want to lose games, but when you get seven positives at once you have to use common sense.
“Other teams have had positive tests and are playing but in some of those cases, it’s one on one day and then another one or two the next day. Over the course of a week, you’re up to seven or eight. In 12 hours we went from zero to seven. That was a flash for the league doctors.”
Summoning players from the minors, and the cap issues that may present, is certainly on Treliving’s mounting to-do list posted all around him.
“We’re not there yet in terms of plans from A to Z,” he said. “That’s going to Step 4 before Step 2. Let’s see where we are on a daily basis, and let’s get through that, first and foremost.
“Be prepared to pivot.”
Society’s motto the last two years.
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