San Jose Barracuda halts all activities after positive COVID-19 test

A San Jose Barracuda player has tested positive for the coronavirus but Sharks coach Bob Boughner doesn’t feel it’ll have an impact on the NHL team or its ability to play its next game later this week.

The Barracuda announced Sunday that it was halting all team activities and canceling its scheduled exhibition game Monday with the Tucson Roadrunners after one player tested positive for COVID-19. As of Sunday, the Barracuda’s regular season opener against Tucson had not been canceled.

Saturday, the Barracuda’s game with the Henderson Silver Knights was stopped after two periods after it was discovered during the game that a San Jose player had tested positive. At that point, per an AHL spokesman, the Barracuda and the Silver Knights agreed to suspend the game “out of an abundance of caution in accordance with the AHL’s health and safety protocols.”

Barracuda players, coaches and staff members will remain in their own hotel rooms in Las Vegas until further test results come back. Several players who were with the Sharks earlier this week, either on the active roster or taxi squad, dressed for Saturday’s game against Henderson.

As of Sunday, the Sharks had 20 players on their active roster: 12 forwards, including Rudolfs Balcers, six defensemen and two goalies. Four players are on the Sharks’ taxi squad — forwards Sasha Chmelevski, Noah Gregor and Kurtis Gabriel and goalie Josef Korenar.

The Sharks on Sunday practiced at their own facility for the first time since early March of last year. Their next games aren’t until the end of the week, as they begin a four-game road trip Friday and Saturday in Anaheim before they play the Kings in Los Angeles on Feb. 9 and 11.

“No one wants to see that happen. But if it’s happened, it’s probably the perfect time,” Boughner said of the positive Barracuda test.

“We have a week here where the American League can get through their protocol and we have all our guys here practicing. We go to Anaheim on Friday and Saturday and we’ve got a full roster here, so it doesn’t really affect our team in any way. I know they’re working through that issue down there.”

Players who dressed for Saturday’s game against Henderson included forwards John Leonard, Fredrik Handemark and Jeffrey Viel, defenseman Brinson Pasichnuk and goalie Alexei Melnichuk. Forward Joel Kellman was also with the team but did not play Saturday.

The players were sent to the AHL by the Sharks to help stay sharp since most had only played sparingly or not at all since the NHL season began in mid-January.

Balcers, on a conditioning assignment after he was claimed off of waivers by the Sharks from Ottawa Senators earlier this month, was playing in his second straight game Saturday.

According to NHL and AHL protocols, any player who tests positive for the coronavirus and exhibits symptoms will be required to isolate until medical clearance is obtained. Contract tracing begins immediately.

Players who test positive but are asymptomatic will be isolated. A test to confirm would be conducted 24 hours later and in total, three confirmatory negative tests, all taken 24 hours apart, would be needed for a player to rejoin his team and resume training. At that point, close contacts will also be released from isolation.

It is unclear how many Barracuda players or staff members are now considered to be close contacts, although all players as of Sunday were separated anyway. Once team activities resume, those close contacts can rejoin the team as long as they have tested negative. They would still be subject to daily symptom and temperature monitoring, and daily PCR testing for 14 days.

The Sharks were able to come home this weekend after their games with Vegas, scheduled for Monday and Wednesday in Glendale, Ariz., were postponed because of the Golden Knights’ own COVID issues. Four members of the Golden Knights, including three coaches, were being isolated in adherence with the league’s COVID protocols.

It is unknown what Golden Knights coaches are in isolation. The staff is led by Pete DeBoer, and Steve Spott is one of his assistants. Both were with the Sharks from 2015 to 2019 before they were fired.

Boughner, who first came to San Jose with DeBoer and Spott in 2015, says he still stays in touch with both quite often.

“I talked to Pete at length probably two days ago,” Boughner said. “Just talked about what they’re going through and catching up and making sure all those guys are OK.”