Darryl Sutter says Flames COVID outbreak is still affecting some players
The question to Calgary Flames coach Darryl Sutter was posed in relation to Elias Lindholm.
The answer, as a whole, was telling from the bench boss whose slumping Flames have dropped four straight games in regulation and have just two ticks in the win column since December 5 — a span of 10 games.
“It gets overlooked in all this, and it’s natural for people to critique or criticize the team, or you just look at the swings from summer to now in terms of how everybody evaluates your team, but what gets overlooked in all this is you’re going to win games, and you’re going to lose games,” Sutter said in a Zoom availability prior to Tuesday night’s game against the Florida Panthers. “That’s a fact. You’re not at the top working down. You’re at the bottom working up.
“So when you talk about a guy like Lindy, how much of a piss-poor schedule to start the year with all these four (road) trips, and then with COVID getting in and everybody just thinks isolation and you’re out, and you’re better. Well, anybody who’s had it should know better.
“There’s nobody on this call, me or anybody else, that can medically say how it’s affected people. It certainly affected some of our players, and quite honestly, I think it still is.”
"If we're an honest hard-working team, then we'll win our share."#Flames head coach Darryl Sutter speaks with the media ahead of tonight's clash vs. Florida. pic.twitter.com/EmHn2sjU8p
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) January 18, 2022
Lindholm has five points (two goals, three assists) in those 10 games.
Only two players — linemates Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk — have more.
He was one of more than 30 players and team staff members to be placed in COVID protocol in a massive outbreak linked to the Omicron variant in December.
Only a couple of the 23-man roster managed to avoid it altogether.
The cases were “either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic,” Flames Head Physician and Medical Director Dr. Ian Auld said at the time.
There have been some lingering effects, though, as Sutter suggested.
And the Flames have collected just five points over the last six weeks — second-lowest in the NHL in that span with only the Montreal Canadiens collecting fewer, though it is fair to point out only the Ottawa Senators have played fewer games in the stretch.
“When you talk about somebody like Lindy, Lindy was sick before he got COVID and played through games on that California trip and Vegas trip, and give him a lot of credit for it,” Sutter said. “I think that it took its toll on him. And getting the virus took its toll on him.
“And the amount of minutes that he played on those long trips took its toll on him. You put that in there with the other centremen behind him not playing very well and not contributing enough… look at it. They’re veteran guys. I said it last year. He’s easily your best all-round player. When he’s on, you’re on. Even the line is on better when he’s on.
“You know what? He’s got another level, and he’ll get back to that, for sure.”
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