The Bruins say one of their players has tested positive for COVID-19, and General Manager Don Sweeney says the unidentified player had not been a part of informal workouts with his teammates. Elise Amendola/Associated Press

The Boston Bruins announced on Friday that a player tested positive for coronavirus, and that player has since tested negative twice and remains asymptomatic.

“The Bruins will continue to follow CDC recommendations and adhere to the NHL’s protocol,” the team said in its statement. “All Bruins players who have returned to this point … have now returned negative test results. The Bruins, in conjunction with the National Hockey League, are providing these details in an effort to be transparent and will provide no further information at this time.”

General Manager Don Sweeney told The Associated Press that the unidentified player had not been a part of informal workouts with his teammates.

According to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, the league has a plan in place for positive tests.

“That’s a key question and something we’ve been in constant communication with our medical advisors on,” Daly said last month. “Their thought process at this point in time was that one positive test should not necessarily shut the whole operation down. Obviously we can’t be in a situation where we have an outbreak. That will affect our ability to continue playing. But isolated positive tests throughout a 2-month tournament should not mean an the end to that tournament.”

The Bruins are not the first team in Boston to have a player test positive for COVID-19 – Celtics guard Marcus Smart tested positive as well. Smart experienced no symptoms, either.

The Bruins’ season was suspended on March 12. The NHL has agreed to terms to restart its season, although the Bruins – who had the inside track to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference – were disappointed by the league’s round-robin seeding tournament.

The Bruins, who had an eight-point lead on Tampa Bay for the top seed when the NHL season was paused because of the coronavirus pandemic, will face off against the Lightning, Capitals and Flyers in a round-robin tournament to determine how the top four seeds are seeded. All four teams are guaranteed spots in the 16-team playoff tournament and will face the winners of best-of-five play-in series as part of the NHL restart plan.

“Obviously, a little disappointed, with what the team was able to accomplish the first 70 games and then the point spread we had between not only the teams in the league but also the teams in our division and conference,” team president Cam Neely said in May. “To maybe have three games dictate where we fall in the conference standings is somewhat disappointing. The fact remains, these are uncharted times for everybody and we’re just hoping we can get back on the ice and play meaningful hockey games.”

Related Headlines


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under: