Ottawa Senators add ninth player to NHL's COVID protocol list

The Ottawa Senators announced on Thursday evening that defenceman Nikita Zaitsev has been added to the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list. Zaitsev becomes the ninth Senators player in total to be added, and third one today following Alex Formenton and Matt Murray.

In Zaitsev's absence, defenceman Lassi Thomson has been called up from the Belleville Senators and will make his NHL debut tonight against the Los Angeles Kings. Defenceman Dillon Heatherington and forward Andrew Agozzino were also called up from Belleville on Thursday.

With the amount of Senators players on the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list, it begs the question, should tonight's game even happen? Or should the NHL postpone Ottawa's next couple of games? According to NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, the league has no plans to postpone any of Ottawa's games as of yet.

Forwards Austin Watson, Dylan Gambrell, Connor Brown and defencemen Victor Mete, Nick Holden, and Josh Brown have been placed on the protocol list over the past several days as well as assistant coach Jack Capuano.

Ottawa will take to the ice at 7pm ET tonight for their game against the Los Angeles Kings.

Roster update: The #Sens have placed defenceman Nikita Zaitsev in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol.

In Zaitsev's absence, Lassi Thomson will make his @NHL debut this evening vs Los Angeles.— Sens Communications (@Media_Sens) November 11, 2021

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