Travis Konecny added to COVID protocol list & Travis Sanhiem gets removed as Flyers will hit the ice again on Monday

While shorthanded, the Philadelphia Flyers will be back up and running Monday when they practice at 11:30 A.M. E.S.T. in Voorhees, New Jersey.

Because of COVID protocols, the team has been shut down since Tuesday, when its game against the Capitals was postponed.

For a third straight day Sunday, the Flyers had seven players on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list. There was a change, however, as Travis Sanheim was removed from the list and Travis Konecny was added to it.

Sanheim has been sidelined since last Sunday, when he missed the Flyers’ 7-4 win over the Capitals for COVID protocol. The Flyers have not played a game since then. This Sunday, Oskar Lindblom, Scott Laughton, Jakub Voracek, Morgan Frost, Claude Giroux, and Justin Braun remained on the league’s COVID protocol list, which is updated daily around 5 p.m. ET.

There are a number of contributing factors for why a player can be placed on the COVID protocol list. A player being out because of COVID protocol does not necessarily mean the player tested positive for the coronavirus. Per league protocols, all teams receive daily COVID-19 tests. If not on the road, the Flyers undergo their testing at Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, New Jersey. Prior to Konecny being placed on the COVID protocol list Sunday, Lindblom and Laughton were the most recent additions on Friday. Voracek and Frost were added Thursday, while Giroux and Braun went on the list Tuesday.

Konecny, Lindblom, Laughton, Voracek, Giroux, and Braun all played in the team’s victory last Sunday and practiced Monday, which was the Flyers’ last day on the ice. The club traveled home from Washington, D.C., on Tuesday afternoon following the postponement of that night’s scheduled game.

Along with Tuesday’s contest, the Flyers’ games Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday this week were also postponed.

Four days ago, the NHL identified this upcoming Monday as the Flyers’ appropriate return date for practice. The Flyers’ next scheduled game is Thursday against the New York Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center. The team is then scheduled to travel to Stateline, Nevada, to play the Boston Bruins on Sunday in one of the NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe games this upcoming weekend.

The New Jersey Devils, who were originally slated to play the Flyers on Thursday and Saturday, had five players on Sunday’s COVID protocol list after having 13 or more out each day since Feb. 2. New Jersey hasn’t played since Jan. 31, when it had an afternoon game and was without six players who were on the COVID protocol list that night. The Buffalo Sabres have been able to practice since Feb. 9 despite having seven to nine players on the COVID protocol list since that date. Buffalo had a seven-day pause, while the Flyers had been shut down for six days.

With some players back and some still out, the Flyers will hit the ice Monday as they prepare for what will be their first game in 11 days.

Then it will be time for the outdoors, hopefully.