Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi enters COVID-19 protocol

Carolina Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol Sunday, the team announced on Twitter.

Kotkaniemi becomes the only Hurricanes player in COVID protocol. With the NHL scaling back testing protocol and slowly loosening COVID restrictions, there’s almost surely going to be a decrease in the frequency of players entering the protocol.

After signing a one-year, $6M offer sheet to join the Hurricanes organization this summer, Kotkaniemi is on pace for a career season despite a limited role. Most often seeing usage in the team’s bottom-six, the 21-year-old Kotkaniemi has nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points in 42 games, on pace to eclipse his career-high of 34 points set during his rookie campaign with the Montreal Canadiens in 2018-19.

It’s a tough break for the Hurricanes, who’ll likely lose a valuable depth piece for a few games. Assuming Kotkaniemi misses games within the normal five-day quarantine period, he’ll miss the team’s next three contests and could potentially return on February 12 in St. Paul against the Minnesota Wild.

The news comes as the team’s general manager Don Waddell said Saturday that the team hopes to sign a long-term contract extension with Kotkaniemi, who is a restricted free agent this offseason.