Quotes of the day: Bergevin

MONTREAL – General manager Marc Bergevin provided a status update on the COVID-19 situation within the team on Thursday morning via Zoom.

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He confirmed that one player tested positive for a variant form of the virus, and that player is currently in quarantine.

Here are a few highlights from Bergevin’s chat with reporters:

Bergevin on the Bell Sports Complex being closed because two players entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol:

One of the main reasons is because there were people who came into contact with these players. We did some contact tracing and there were more than two guys who came into contact with the affected players. The League didn’t want to take any chances with respect to the health of our players and the Edmonton Oilers. I think it was the right decision.

Bergevin on the possibility of not playing games that were postponed:

I had a discussion with the League yesterday about the schedule. Everything is ready in terms of the games being rescheduled. It definitely isn’t the ideal scenario, but it happened to teams in the United States as well. We’ll manage the situation the best way possible.

Bergevin on the current status of the team:

I can’t go into detail for personal reasons. Our players are tested every morning. We get the results between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. I can’t go into detail and tell you who’s on the COVID list right now.

Bergevin on the possibility of playing one or two games during the week of May 10:

As soon as we have the green light to practice again, the League will announce the schedule. They’re handling that. I can confirm that they’d like to avoid affecting the last week of the regular season as much as possible, but we’ll probably have to play some more games. I’ll let the League handle that announcement.

Video: Bergevin on the virus and postponed games

Bergevin on the advice given to the players under these circumstances:

We asked them to be very careful. The player who has COVID is in quarantine. The others can go outside and take walks. We didn’t ask any of them to stay indoors at home for seven days. I don’t think there’s an issue with taking a walk.

Bergevin on the possibility of adding one more week to the regular season:

Not necessarily a whole week. There’s a possibility that our season will be a bit longer, but I wouldn’t say one week. I saw the schedule yesterday. We’ve moved some games around that will affect some other teams so we can play as many games as possible before the end of the regular season.

Bergevin on what the coaches are doing with the players right now:

Dominique organized Zoom seminars with the power play and penalty killing units. Everything was put in place at the beginning of the week.

Bergevin on the impact of the pause on the team:

In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have a break. We could tell ourselves that it’s a break and that it’ll give certain players time to heal from their injuries. But the fact that we can’t practice for seven days isn’t ideal. There are two sides to this. We’ll manage the situation the best way possible ahead of playing again.

Bergevin on the COVID-19 situation within the team being under control:

All the precautions have been taken by the League, the NHLPA and the Montreal Canadiens for the safety of our players. There was one player that the test came back positive and it was close contact, so the League didn’t want to take any chances. Then we retested again, and it came back again. But so far, I could tell you that it hasn’t spread. If we keep on the same pace until Monday afternoon, we should be okay to come back.