NHL to Add Game-Day Rapid COVID-19 Tests as Part of Safety Protocols

The NHL has updated its health and safety protocols to include game-day rapid testing for COVID-19.

Additionally, the league is requiring teams to remove glass panels behind each bench, requiring players to remain six feet apart in locker rooms and prohibiting clubs from arriving at arenas more than an hour and 45 minutes before opening faceoff, with exceptions for athletes who require treatment or further preparations.

The league has been forced to postpone 35 games this year, including 26 already in February.

On Tuesday, Vegas Golden Knights star Tomas Nosek returned a positive test result two periods after he took the ice against the Anaheim Ducks and wasn't pulled from the game until the second intermission. The NHL will continue to use daily PCR testing, which returns results within 24 hours, while supplementing with rapid testing that takes less than an hour to complete.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic complicating the league's season, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman sought to reassure the public that the league is taking proactive steps with its protocols.

"It is important to note that while we have seen almost 100 players enter our COVID protocols, fewer than half have done so because of confirmed positive tests—and, among that group, many have not been symptomatic," Bettman said in a recent statement. "Our priority has been and will continue to be to act conservatively with an abundance of caution, understanding that there are many things about the transmission of COVID-19 that are still being discovered."

After learning of the updates, Golden Knights captain Mark Stone praised the league's action to the AP.

"I think now with the rapid testing getting in place is going to help," Stone said. "We're to know more before the games, which is ultimately what we want. I think you're a little bit naive to think we were going to go through the whole season without one guy testing positive. I think everybody's kind of learning as we go."

It's unclear how soon rapid test protocols will be in place across the league.