from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- It looked weird to see Detroit’s Dylan Larkin pulled mid-game due to COVID protocol on Tuesday night. But, unfortunately, it happens. Most famous was Justin Turner during Game 6 of the 2020 World Series, before he controversially returned to the field during the Dodgers’ celebration. Tomas Nosek (then with Vegas) was pulled during a game last February. The reason Ottawa was temporarily shut down -- as opposed to other COVID situations -- is that enhanced protocols, such as testing every day as opposed to every three days, were not slowing the spread. That’s why doctors made the call; the virus could not be contained.

The number of false positives had players and teams very frustrated, but doctors fought hard against cutting the amount of testing....

- When it comes to Connor McDavid and John Tortorella, I completely disagree with Tortorella’s position on the issue (more on McDavid in a moment). What’s frustrating, however, is the way in which strong opinions are so voraciously shouted down in hockey. The greatest studio show in sports television history is Inside the NBA. If Tortorella said what he said on that show, everyone would laugh. Even if they ripped him, it would be in a fun way.

- As for McDavid, there’s a concern about in-arena attendance -- and not just in hockey. I don’t think we really understand yet where this is going, but it’s clear that fans are not returning in-person at the anticipated level. During the 2005-06 lockout, the NHL took a long look at its on-ice product, a move that wasn’t universally praised at the time, but history judges very favourably. I’ve said it many times, I think McDavid deserves many, many more calls against him than he gets. He’s a mugging victim every night. The question I’d be asking if I was the NHL is this: if we want to get more people into the building, are we going to have to give our fans reason to believe star talents will be given more of an opportunity to succeed? I know it’s sacrilege, but if I was concerned about the business, I’d be making sure this was a talking point.

more on COVID and many more topics, including the Vancouver Canucks...