COVID latest: Nemeth off, Tinordi on, Kinkaid up

In the ever changing world of the pandemic, the New York Rangers are making moves to solidify their roster as they prepare to resume play in Florida on Wednesday.  In the latest bit of news, Patrick Nemeth came off the COVID Protocol and defenseman Jarred Tinordi ended on it.

That means that the Rangers have three players on the list as Tinordi joins goalie Alexandar Georgiev and defensman Ryan Lindgren.  Nemeth had gone on the Protocol list on December 18 so it was expected that he would be off in time for the road trip to Florida.

Tinordi’s addition to the list has to be a concern since he passed the test on Sunday and participated in practice.  All players are being tested daily, but they may not know for a few days if he passed the virus to any of his teammates.  The incubation period for the omicron variant is shorter and anyone who has possibly been exposed will show infection about 72 hours later.

As far as the teams the Rangers will face on this road trip, Tampa got Brayden Point back from the list while they had to add Andrej Sustr and  Anthony Cirelli.   They join Pierre-Edouard Bellmare,     Mikhail Sergachev,  Brian Elliott and  Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The Rangers play the Panthers on Wednesday and they have Eetu Luostarin,  Owen Tippett, MacKenzie Weegar and Jonathan Huberdeau on the list.

In another move, the Rangers called up Keith Kinkaid to serve as back up to Igor Shesterkin.The entire Hartford Wolf Pack team is being tested as they are supposed to resume play on Wednesday on the road in Bridgeport versus the Islanders.

Once those tests are completed, we will know what other moves are being made to fill out the taxi squad and complete the NHL roster.

This is a crazy situation with players being added to or removed from the COVID Protocol every minute.  23 players were added to the list today by noon. About a dozen players were reinstated.  It’s far from over.