2 more Edmonton Oilers players enter NHL’s COVID-19 protocol

Darnell Nurse and William Lagesson have been added to the growing list of Edmonton Oilers players who have entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.

The club announced the news on Twitter Monday morning. It comes after Jesse Puljujärvi entered the protocol over the weekend, along with several other players last week.

Over the weekend, the National Hockey League postponed all cross-border games through the league’s holiday break.

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The cross-border decision, made jointly by the NHL and the National Hockey League Players’ Association, was “due to the concern about cross-border travel and, given the fluid nature of federal travel restrictions,” the league said in a release Sunday. It went into effect Monday.

The move means all three of the Oilers games this week have been postponed. The club was set to host the Anaheim Ducks Monday night before away games against the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks on Wednesday and Thursday.

2:41 COVID-19: How Omicron is impacting major sports amid new restrictions

The NHL has sidelined a total of nine teams because of the pandemic’s latest wave fuelled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

With more than 130 players and team staff currently in COVID-19 protocol, the league has been forced to postpone 42 games so far this season, 37 of them just since last Monday.

— with files from The Canadian Press