The Pittsburgh Penguins will be missing multiple key players in their lineup due to a non-COVID related illness that appears to spreading around the NHL at a rapid rate.
The team announced today that they will be without Sidney Crosby, John Marino and Radim Zohorna due to the mysterious illness.
However, the Penguins are not the first team to deal with this non-COVID illness wiping out their roster. The Vancouver Canucks have been dealing with this for weeks, losing many key players for days at a time.
The latest Canuck to battle this was defenseman Quinn Hughes who has now missed the two-game road trip which saw the Canucks win in both Las Vegas and Arizona.
The Vancouver Canucks had to cancel their April 4th practice due to reports of multiple players feeling "queasy".
“We had a couple guys throwing up,” Boudreau told reporters. “We didn’t want that to filter through the team. As you know in Vancouver, it’s happened before. We just tried to take precautions.”
A stomach bug hit Bo Horvat and Brad Richardson last week, and could have spread to more players. This caused Horvat to leave last week's game against the St. Louis Blues due to feeling ill, while Richardson had to sit out completely.
Other teams missing notable players due to this illness:
The Toronto Maple Leafs were without William Nylander when they played the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday due to illness. He did, however, return to the Leafs for last nights game against the Dallas Stars.
The Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price is out once again, this time due to the illness. He had participated in a handful of Canadiens practices until being forced into another pause.
The Washington Capitals winger Conor Sheary missed Fridays practice due to the non-COVID illness.
The Edmonton Oilers have been without goaltender Mikko Koskinen due to the non-COVID illness since April 3rd.
While we're not too sure what the illness is, let's hope it passes in time for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
