The Toronto Marlies are being shut down through next Wednesday because of a COVID situation.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) April 14, 2021
The AHL has announced only that the next three games have been postponed due to COVID-19 protocols affecting the Toronto Marlies.
No official announcement has been made by the Maple Leafs or the Marlies at this time.
The Marlies were scheduled to play in Laval (games are actually in Montreal this season) on Thursday and Sunday. They were then scheduled to play in Belleville (games are actually in Ottawa) next week for three games. Only the first one of those games is currently listed as postponed. The AHL committed to a minimum number of games played, and has no scheduled playoffs, so it’s not clear if, one month from the end of the season, they will make up these games. The Marlies play 11 more times after the postponed games.
The timing implies that there is an expectation of some player or players requiring seven days of quarantine.
In the meantime, the Maple Leafs have a full roster and Taxi Squad, and have no need for callups prior to their road trip that is scheduled to begin on Friday with a trip to Vancouver to play the Canucks on the April 17. They may have wanted to shed some extras as Nick Foligno should join the team sometime during that trip.
The Canucks are due to come back from their long interruption due to a near total team-wide infection on April 16.
When we have official word, we’ll let you know.
UPDATE:
Nick Robertson has been added to #Leafs list of players unavailable due to COVID protocols.
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) April 14, 2021
He was with the Toronto Marlies recently before being recalled to Leafs. The Marlies shut down their operations today into next week due to COVID.
Better update:
Forward Nick Robertson has been cleared from the NHL’s COVID Protocol list and is available to re-join the Leafs this morning.
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) April 15, 2021
