The NHL released a statement Wednesday afternoon confirming that positive test results for multiple players on both the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights were reported as such in error.

Players on both teams were isolated earlier in the day while further testing was conducted, before it was later determined that the initial results in question were all false positives.

"This morning, we became aware of certain test results involving multiple Players on two Clubs (the St. Louis Blues and the Vegas Golden Knights) that had indicated positive results for the COVID-19 virus. Because those reported results emanated from the same laboratory, and due to other peculiarities and similarities as among the test results themselves, an investigation was initiated into the possibility that the initial test results reported may have been in error.

"All affected Players were immediately isolated and further testing was done involving collected samples. Those tests have returned uniformly negative results, therefore confirming that the initial reported test results were in error. As a result, all affected Players will be eligible to play in their team’s next game."

St. Louis is scheduled to play Game 2 of its first-round series against the Avs on Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m. EST. The Golden Knights will be in Minnesota for Game 3 of their series against the Wild on Thursday.

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The Edmonton Oilers have re-signed restricted free agent defenseman Ethan Bear to a 2-year contract worth $4 million, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reports.

More to come.

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The Edmonton Oilers fired general manager and president of hockey operations Peter Chiarelli, the club announced Wednesday.

Bob Nicholson, the team's CEO, will oversee hockey operations in the interim.

Assistant GM Keith Gretzky will take on more responsibility until a new GM is hired, according to The Associated Press' Stephen Whyno.

The shakeup comes hours after the club stumbled into the All-Star break with a third consecutive defeat on home ice. It's the second major change in Oilers leadership this season, following the November move to fire Todd McLellan as head coach and hire Ken Hitchcock as his replacement.

The decision to dismiss Chiarelli was made before the Oilers' loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night, according to TSN's Darren Dreger, and the move itself was carried out before the game's conclusion.

Chiarelli exits after three plus-seasons with Edmonton. He joined the organization in 2015, two months before the Oilers won the chance to draft Connor McDavid first overall.

Since then, Edmonton's inability to capitalize on landing a generational talent - qualifying for the playoffs just once in McDavid's first three seasons and currently standing at risk of missing out once again - has largely been attributed to roster decisions made by Chiarelli.

Most notable among those franchise-altering moves were the separate trades of Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, which landed the club only Adam Larsson and Ryan Strome in return, as well as the free-agent signing of Milan Lucic on a seven-year, $42-million deal in 2016.

Edmonton also raised eyebrows with another move one day prior to Chiarelli's dismissal, giving goaltender Mikko Koskinen a three-year, $13.5-million extension after just 27 games with the team.

The Oilers currently sit below all but three teams in the Western Conference standings, owning a 23-24-3 record and 49 points.

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