Trevor van Reimsdyk is on COVID-19 Protocol

As the playoffs approach in the coming months, the Washington Capitals ought to encourage their players to receive a booster shot. Anything the team can do to lessen the likelihood that an important piece of their roster is forced to miss time during a potential Stanley Cup run is a smart hockey-decision.

Another day, another addition to the injury report for the Washington Capitals. This time, it’s Trevor van Reimsdyk who will be joining his teammate, Nic Dowd on the NHL’s COVID-19 list. TvR is the third Capitals player to become unavailable due to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols this season. Both he and Dowd played on November 28th against the Carolina Hurricanes, and only a day after that game, the Hurricanes had two players enter COVID-19 protocol themselves.

The Capitals are still without Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie, Conor Sheary, and Anthony Mantha but that hasn’t stopped them. The team has still managed to scrape together 34 standings points, good for first place in the tough Metropolitan Division.

With Oshie and Sheary nearing a return and Backstrom getting closer everyday, it appeared the Capitals may finally be turning the corner health-wise but missing van Reimsdyk will be a big loss on the backend. Trevor van Reimsdyk has started every game for the Capitals and has impressed with 7 assists and a plus-2 rating so far this season.

As the season progresses, we will likely see more players enter COVID-19 protocol. According to defenseman, Dmitry Orlov, roughly 85% of the Capitals’ players were fully vaccinated before last season’s playoff start which means many of the players are at least eight months out from their initial inoculation. We’ve seen the efficacy of the vaccines decline by the six-month mark which has played a role in the CDC’s decision to recommend everyone over the age of 18 receive a booster shot. While the vaccines still provide excellent protection against severe illness and death, we now know that there are more mildy-symptomatic breakthrough infections which are enough to force a player onto the league’s unavailability list.

As the playoffs approach in the coming months, the Washington Capitals ought to encourage their players to receive a booster shot. Anything the team can do to lessen the likelihood that an important piece of their roster is forced to miss time during a potential Stanley Cup run is a smart hockey-decision.