The NHL and NHLPA agreed Wednesday to update the COVID-19 protocol for vaccinated players and personnel, shortening the isolation period for those who have tested positive from 10 days to five days if certain conditions are met, according to a memo obtained by Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli.
If people don't have symptoms or their symptoms are resolving, and they don't have a fever, they can leave protocol by producing one or two negative test results (depending on test type) or a positive lab-based PCR with a cycle threshold (CT) that suggests they aren't contagious.
Players also need medical clearance from the team physician and can only exit isolation after five days if that is in compliance with local health regulations.
Individuals who are experiencing a fever must isolate until the fever resolves.
The day of the positive test isn't part of the five-day isolation period. Players can test out of isolation on or after the fourth day.
After exiting protocol, players must wear a mask for five days except for during games and practices. All other aspects of the protocol remain in place, including cardiac screenings.
The league's protocols were updated in response to this week's new guidelines from the CDC.
The Canadian government has imposed stricter pandemic-related regulations than the U.S. The NHL has already postponed nine Canadian games because of attendance limits in certain cities.
The NBA and NFL made similar changes earlier this week to reduce isolation periods for players who test positive.
The NHL has been dealing with mass postponements of games as COVID-19 cases rise across North America, and the league just returned to action from an extended holiday pause on Dec. 28.
We split our best bets in the NHL's return to action.
The Vegas Golden Knights comfortably took care of the Los Angeles Kings. However, our under in San Jose was over - no pun intended - before it started as the teams combined for four goals in the opening frame en route to a *checks notes* 15-goal explosion.
We'll aim for better in our first six-game slate in nearly two weeks on Wednesday.
Rangers (+145) @ Panthers (-170)
This is undoubtedly the marquee game of the night in the NHL, featuring two of the nine teams to have 40 points or more.
While both teams have more than their fair share of firepower, it is the under that appeals to me. The Florida Panthers are playing strong defensive hockey. Over the last 10 games, they sit second in attempts against and fifth in expected goals against per 60 minutes of five-on-five play. They're not giving up many dangerous looks and Sergei Bobrovsky (.917 save percentage) has shown he's still capable of cleaning up the occasional mess made in front of him.
New York's defensive metrics aren't as promising as Florida's. Even so, the club is still top half of the league in limiting shots and expected goals over the last 10 games.
And, to be frank, it doesn't much matter how the Rangers defend when Igor Shesterkin is between the pipes. He owns a ridiculous .937 save percentage and ranks second in goals saved above expected.
If he can shake off the rust following a few weeks of inaction, this game should stay under the number.
Bet: under 6 goals (-110)
Canucks (-110) @ Ducks (-110)
The Vancouver Canucks are 6-0-0 since Bruce Boudreau took over behind the bench. It's not all smoke and mirrors, either.
At five-on-five, they rank 11th in expected goal share - sandwiched between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins - and only seven teams have generated more scoring chances.
They have shown clear improvement on the penalty kill as well, conceding just twice in six games. That's a stark contrast from the 29 they allowed in 25 games with Travis Green behind the bench.
The Anaheim Ducks are not the pushovers many expected them to be. But they are expected to be without a few key cogs on Wednesday.
Trevor Zegras is by far the most impactful absence, but injuries to Adam Henrique and Max Comtois are also worth noting. The Ducks are now paper thin up front.
Expect the Canucks to take advantage of that and keep the hot streak going.
Bet: Canucks (-110)
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.
Connor Bedard scored four goals in Canada's dominant 11-2 victory over Austria at the World Junior Championship on Tuesday.
The 16-year-old matched a Canadian tournament record for goals in a single game, and he's the youngest player in the country's history to accomplish the feat.
Wayne Gretzky is the only other 16-year-old Canadian to record a hat trick at the world juniors, doing so twice in 1977.
Canada wasted no time taking the game to Austria. Kent Johnson opened the scoring roughly five minutes into the contest, and Canada jumped to a 5-0 lead before the end of the first period.
Canada now owns a 2-0 record at the tournament after dispatching Czechia 6-3 in its opener on Boxing Day. The hosts return to the ice Wednesday for a clash against Germany.
Point, who last played on Nov. 20, has missed the last 14 games with an upper-body injury.
The 25-year-old sustained the ailment after being tripped on a breakaway against the New Jersey Devils. He collided with the boards and appeared to be in pain but was able to stay in the contest.
The next day, Point was a late scratch for the Lightning's clash against the Minnesota Wild.
Despite a long stretch without Point's talent in the lineup, Tampa Bay sits atop the league with a 20-6-4 record. The Bolts have gone 11-2-1 since Nov. 21 - the first game of Point's absence.
Point has seven goals and six assists in 16 contests so far this campaign.
Everyone loses bets. Most of us lose bets daily. But regardless of the monetary value attached to them, not all losses are the same.
We all know those bets - the ones that go so awry they leave you humiliated and humbled. We're talking about the takes so bad they have us questioning our entire process and wondering if we know anything at all.
We like to think we've made some pretty good calls [link to fav bets or nice list] this year, but here are the bets we made in 2021 that were equally as bad:
Angels to win the World Series (+5500)
Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images Sport / Getty
I didn't actually think the Angels would win the World Series, but I did think 55-1 was a terrible price - one I couldn't pass up. I expected Los Angeles to reach the postseason, at which point I could easily hedge. Turns out 55-1 wasn't a generous price. In fact, it was too short.
The Angels hovered around, or below, the .500 mark for the bulk of the campaign before throwing in the towel in September. L.A. never even threatened to push for a playoff spot, wasting Shohei Ohtani's historic season. This would have been a bad bet at 75-1.
The worst part? I ignored all the preseason chatter about Ohtani being a great MVP value at 50-1, which I genuinely agreed with, and decided I would put my money on his club instead. My logic? If Ohtani truly did have an MVP-caliber campaign, the Angels - with Mike Trout alongside him - would be a playoff lock. So instead of holding a 50-1 winner on Ohtani, I held a 55-1 loser on the dumpster team he carried from the basement to mediocrity.
Hardly my finest hour.
- Alex Moretto
Bears to win the Super Bowl (+5000)
Emilee Chinn / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Transport yourself back to February 2021 when the Buccaneers were fresh off a Super Bowl victory behind a new quarterback and a stacked roster around him. "You know who that sounds like?" I told myself. "The Chicago Bears!"
That was months before the Bears decided their new quarterback wouldn't be Deshaun Watson or Russell Wilson, or even Carson Wentz. No, Chicago would settle for Andy Dalton and pair him with rookie Justin Fields behind one of the worst offensive lines in football. How'd that work out?
My biggest mistake, in hindsight, was thinking this squad was a quarterback away. Allen Robinson and David Montgomery haven't even been discount stars, let alone productive ones, while the Bears' talent-rich defense (or so I thought) has allowed 24.9 points per game. Even Tom Brady would have had trouble elevating this group, which is likely still a few years away.
- C Jackson Cowart
Ben Simmons to win MVP (+25000)
Jesse D. Garrabrant / National Basketball Association / Getty
Look, you can never be too mad about a 250-1 long shot, especially one on a player as talented as Ben Simmons. But you almost couldn't script a worse start to a season than what we've seen from Simmons, who demanded a trade in August, was kicked out of practice and suspended in October, and is away from the 76ers with no end in sight. Not exactly what you'd hope to see from an MVP hopeful!
The worst part was just how effusively I praised the value of this ticket - which, in hindsight, would have been better spent on quite literally any other player in the league. I guess that just means he'll be an even bigger value next year ... right?
- Cowart
Chiefs -3 (Super Bowl vs. Bucs)
Patrick Smith / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Betting against Brady is rarely a fun proposition. He consistently gets the most out of his supporting cast, and he sure did have a good one in Tampa Bay - the team was essentially flawless. The Bucs ranked top-five in DVOA on both sides of the ball, and despite having the best quarterback of all-time calling shots in the biggest event in sports, I backed the Chiefs as favorites. Boy, did I pay for it.
Kansas City fell behind 21-6 in the first half and was never really in the game, resulting in a 31-9 Tampa victory. And I really didn't have much reason to expect anything different. The Bucs, with an elite defense and top-tier offense, neutralized the Chiefs' exceptional offense and exposed their pedestrian defensive unit. It seems so simple in hindsight, but the aura of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City offense blinded me. Lesson learned.
- Todd Cordell
Kraken to win the Stanley Cup (+20000)
Abbie Parr / Getty Images Sport / Getty
The price is not the problem here. Many projection models had the Kraken as a playoff contender. In that regard, it'd be ignorant not to throw at least some lunch money on Seattle. But this bet couldn't look much worse.
The Kraken rank 28th in wins, points, and goal differential. The squad doesn't have much firepower up front, and its goaltending has been mind-numbingly bad. Netminding was supposed to be a strength - Seattle brought in a Vezina finalist from a year ago - but given the unrivaled variance at the position, I probably shouldn't have backed a team whose biggest strength was supposed to be its play between the pipes.
- Cordell
Loyola-Chicago ML -300 (vs. Oregon State)
Jack Dempsey / NCAA Photos / Getty
Keep the emotions out of it - it's the number one rule of sports betting. And yet, after Loyola-Chicago knocked off Illinois in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament - wiping out my 100-1 Illini futures ticket - I bought into the Ramblers days later as big favorites against Oregon State.
Unable or unwilling to acknowledge that Loyola-Chicago merely played its best game of the year or that Illinois played its worst, I paid the price as I watched the Ramblers stink it up against the Beavers, beating me for the second time that week. It was Betting 101, and I failed the pop quiz.
- Matt Russell
Mike Zimmer to win Coach of the Year (+2500)
Stephen Maturen / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Before the season, I thought that instead of betting the Vikings to win the division at +275, you might as well take Zimmer to win Coach of the Year at 10x the payout. If Minnesota won the NFC North, he would likely get credit for the team's success. I stand by the premise. Even with hindsight, the Vikings could have won the division. Just look at its losses:
OPPONENT
SCORE
KEY PLAY
@CIN
27-24
Dalvin Cook fumble in OT
@AZ
34-33
Missed FG with 0:00 left
vsMIN
20-16
Cooper Rush GW TD drive
@BAL
34-31
Blew 14-point lead
@DET
29-27
Lions first win (w/ 0:00 left)
However, the issue isn't that Minnesota has lost several close games, it's that the losses are almost entirely a direct result of poor coaching from Zimmer. Not only has he not done a good job, but he also seems helpless when the contests get close late - which they inevitably do, courtesy of a baffling gameplan whenever the Vikings jump out to a lead. Minnesota has led by at least six points in every game this season but sits at 7-7 thanks to Zimmer's ineptitude.
That adds some rich irony to a Coach Of The Year bet.
- Russell
Oklahoma to win the National Championship (+800)
Ron Jenkins / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Unlike my Angels future, I firmly believed in Oklahoma winning the National Championship. It's not even that I just thought the Sooners had a chance - I legitimately thought they were the favorites behind Lincoln Riley, Spencer Rattler, and what I told people was "a roster absolutely loaded at every position."
Oklahoma was -150 to win the Big 12, and I thought even that was disrespectful. Nothing was going to stop this juggernaut from waltzing to a conference title, playoff berth, and a likely Natty. Fast forward four months and Rattler has transferred to South Carolina - like, seriously?! - after being benched halfway through the campaign, and the Sooners aren't even playing in a New Year's Six bowl. Congrats on the Alamo Bowl, though, Oklahoma. Impressive stuff.
The season started badly as the Sooners scraped out a 40-35 victory against Tulane as 31-point favorites. Oklahoma rattled off nine straight wins to start the year, and each one was less convincing than the previous. At no point did the Sooners resemble anything close to title contenders before Baylor finally put them out of their misery. Lincoln Riley couldn't leave town fast enough, and the bulk of their star-studded 2023 California recruiting class followed suit. I feel like I am entirely to blame for cursing the Oklahoma football program.
At least with Riley gone, I won't be suckered into wasting more money on the team next year.
The NHL has postponed nine upcoming games involving Canadian teams due to attendance restrictions throughout the country, the league announced Tuesday.
Makeup dates haven't been announced yet but will be played when spectator limits are eased or lifted. Here are the affected games:
Date
Matchup
Dec. 31
Senators-Penguins
Dec. 31
Jets-Flames
Jan. 3
Maple Leafs-Hurricanes
Jan. 4
Canadiens-Capitals
Jan. 6
Canadiens-Maple Leafs
Jan. 8
Canadiens-Sabres
Jan. 8
Jets-Kraken
Jan. 10
Canadiens-Blue Jackets
Jan.10
Jets-Wild
Teams across Canada have implemented capacity limits in recent weeks as COVID-19 began to surge again. The Montreal Canadiens played one game in an empty Bell Centre before the league went on pause.
The return of hockey means one thing and one thing only: Shot totals are back!
We're in the midst of a nice season and own an 80-65 record for +13.24 units. We'll look to pick up where we left off and hit the ground running as hockey ramps up again.
Victor Hedman over 2.5 shots on goal (-125)
Hedman is riding a hot streak. He registered at least three shots on target in seven of his last 10 games and eight of his last 10 at home.
That trend should continue against the Montreal Canadiens for a few reasons. The Habs rank 32nd in five-on-five shots against per 60 over the last 10 games. They also struggle on the penalty kill, sitting 30th. Hedman plays a key role in all situations so he's as likely as anyone to take advantage of Montreal.
Beyond that, the Lightning have a cluster of injuries on the back end. Top-four defenders Erik Cernak and Mikhail Sergachev will both miss tonight's game, which should increase Hedman's workload.
He's a good bet to play 25 or more minutes in one of the best matchups he could ask for. Back him to hit three shots.
Erik Karlsson over 2.5 shots on goal (-105)
Karlsson is firing on all cylinders - literally. He recorded at least three shots in seven of his last nine games and averaged 6.1 attempts per contest over that span.
I like his chances of staying hot here. The Arizona Coyotes are a poor defensive team that gives up the most volume to defenders in the NHL. Arizona allows 10.76 shots on goal per game to defenders - music to the ears of big-minute, volume-shooting defensemen like Karlsson.
The Sharks are expected to be without key players like Tomas Hertl and Kevin Labanc tonight, which could also give Karlsson more offensive responsibility.
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.
The United States forfeited Tuesday's World Junior Championship preliminary matchup against Switzerland due to COVID-19 issues, the IIHF announced.
Teams must undergo a mandated quarantine following a positive test result of two of their players.
"We're extremely disappointed, especially for our players," U.S. national junior team general manager John Vanbiesbrouck said in a statement. "We've followed the tournament protocol from the outset and will continue to do everything we can to ensure our players have the opportunity to compete at the World Junior Championship."
Their quarantine status will be further evaluated to determine if they can play against Sweden on Wednesday.
The game will be recorded as a 1-0 victory for the Swiss and the team will be rewarded three standings points.
Efforts were initially made to postpone the matchup and reschedule it at a later date, according to Bob McKenzie of TSN.
Team USA postponed its pregame media availability earlier on Tuesday, according to TSN's Gord Miller.
The United States beat Slovakia 3-2 in their first preliminary contest. The Swiss dropped their tournament opener against Russia 4-2.
