Terrible Covid update for the Habs, but all good for the Golden Knights.

The Montreal Canadiens were dealt a tough blow this week when it was revealed that their head coach, Dominique Ducharme, had been flagged for a positive COVID-19 test. The test forced Ducharme out of Game 3 of their semifinal series against the Las Vegas Golden Knights, but it would now appear as though that was only the start of their troubles.

On Saturday National Hockey League insider Chris Johnston reported that the Habs interim head coach will likely miss the remainder of the series against the Golden Knights and quite possibly a significant portion of what remains of the Stanley Cup Playoffs should the Canadiens advance past the Golden Knights. According to Johnston the Canadiens head coach will have to isolate for a 14 day period as a result of his positive test, a mandatory isolation that will have to be completed before he can rejoin the team. Given that we don't have a crystal ball we can't determine exactly how many games this will cause Ducharme to miss down the stretch but we can tell you that it will be a significant number.

I suppose that there is a small silver lining here for the Canadiens however. Earlier in the day NHL insider Darren Dreger reported that there had been no other positive tests following Ducharme's own positive, both for the Canadiens and the Golden Knights who also could have potentially been at risk of infection due to being in relatively close proximity to the Habs coach. 

Those results did not include tonight's updated results, which as Dreger noted are usually published around 6 pm, but NHL insider Elliotte Friedman would later confirm that there have been no additional positives reported tonight either.

Again this is true for both the Habs and the Golden Knights, and you have to imagine that this now puts the Golden Knights at a significant advantage in this series. Although Luke Richardson performed admirably in Game 3 during Ducharme's absence, it is hard to imagine that being without the coach you have had behind the bench for most of the season wasn't a difficult adjustment for everyone involved. Today's news would appear to indicate that this adjustment will have to continue for the foreseeable future.