Alexander Ovetchkin, Yevgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov and Ilya Samsonov have all been quarantined and will miss all of Washington's matches next week.
- Right now the players are in quarantine and in this situation I think it is about four matches and then there will be a new evaluation.
There will probably be a statement eventually, says the team's coach Peter Laviolette to nhl.com.
Did not use mouth guard
The four players violated the league's rules for covid-19 when, during the team's away tour in Buffalo and Pittsburgh - it is still unclear exactly when it should have happened - they hung out in a hotel room, also without wearing mouth guards.
One of the players has now been tested positive for covid-19 and according to the Washington Post it is the goalkeeper Ilya Samsonov.
The team should have become aware of the test result after the away match against Pittsburgh on Tuesday, the newspaper writes.
Confirms a case
Laviolette does not explicitly say that it is about Samsonov, but confirms the positive test.
- I know that there was a positive case and through infection tracking, the players have been honest with what they have done.
I do not know myself exactly how things are connected, but it was concluded that four players hung out close to each other in a hotel room and that they now have to be isolated, says Laviolette.
In the states of Washington and Virginia, where the team's training facility is located, the rules state that a person who has tested positive for covid-19 must be self-isolated for at least seven days.
To be allowed to leave the quarantine, a negative test is required on or after the fifth day of isolation.