The Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson wrote an article discussing the fact that Oilers GM Ken Holland and alumnus Kevin Lowe won’t be preparing for the Hockey Hall of Fame’s 2020 induction speeches as the induction ceremony has been delayed to 2021.
That’s disappointing, but the worrisome part of Matheson’s article comes in the form of an update from the KHL regarding another former Red Wing:
KHL coach Bob Hartley, who has Nail Yakupov on his [Avangard Omsk] team, has managed to avoid COVID but his Omsk team has been hit hard, including his assistant coach Slava Kozlov, the former terrific Detroit Red Wings/Atlanta Thrashers forward who played almost 1,200 NHL games.
“Touch on wood, I’ve been very lucky but Slava spent the last three weeks in hospital on oxygen. He got it really, really bad,” said Hartley. “Last year he was skating with my players and was in NHL shape. I told him I would put him in a game.”
Kozlov is 48 years old.
“We have three coaches who didn’t get hit and maybe three players. One of our masseuses got it pretty good in training camp and spent a week in hospital and the players were sick for two or three days but couldn’t come back for two weeks (quarantine). For three weeks, I was going on the ice with eight players.
“We were supposed to play against Dynamo Riga (Wednesday) but it was postponed. Their junior team was been affected, their KHL team, too. We have a rink that holds 5,500 and they’ve been allowing 1,200 in for games but the Ministry of Health says we can’t have any fans until further notice.”
Continued; that’s scary, plain old scary.
Update: From the Detroit News’s Gregg Krupa:
GOOD NEWS!
a source close to slava kozlov’s family tells me he is out of the hospital and did have a difficult case of COVID-19.#RedWings @georgemalik— gregg krupa (@greggkrupa) October 23, 2020
Glad he made it thru the Covid! Not sure about USA but in Canada it is worse than the 1st time around. Not sure I would call this the 2nd go around. Politicians released some of the restrictions, kids went back to school, large gatherings started, parties , everything that could help the the return of Covid. Now , in Canada, the majority of infections are now the younger age group. No surprise! People simply are not obeying the rules and don’t care.
How it hits sports? I doubt there will be any people going to a Sporting Event for a long time, even with a vaccine. Yes it is scary for all, those that are invincible are the carriers.
Enough bad news.
If they start Jan 1 2021 will the number of games in the season be reduced and bubbles for playoffs again. Problems will ariase when every league starts at a different time. Might be better off as I readto have the prospects playing at a higher level out of Canada/USA and some can make the jump to the NHL. Every team and league seems to be doing something a bit different. It is going to be a big headache for most sports. Anyway, Stay Safe!!
Scary for Slava! Glad to hear he’s doing better.