Canada to close border to unvaccinated athletes

As coronavirus concerns persist, the clock is ticking for unvaccinated NHLers to travel freely across the Canadian border. The Canadian Press reports that the country has decided to end its current leniency toward athletes and will enforce its national COVID protocol. Beginning January 15, unvaccinated athletes will not be permitted to cross the border.

The announcement of this policy change came on Friday, as Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendocino stated that the border will be closing to unvaccinated athletes in the new year. It was Mendocino who worked through the details of the current national interest exemption, which allows unvaccinated professional and amateur athletes to travel across the border under conditions, but they will now repeal that agreement with the NHL, as well as the MLB, NBA, and MLS. While the stated purpose of the change is to align with the next stage of Canada’s COVID battle by improving vaccination rates, the requirement applies to athletes of all nationalities.

Fortunately, this should have a negligible effect on the NHL overall. Commissioner Gary Bettman announced at the beginning of the season that only four players on NHL rosters were unvaccinated. That number may need updating given roster transactions, but this policy change will still be of no concern to more than 99% of players. 

While the league has never formally revealed the names of those four players, Detroit’s Tyler Bertuzzi and New Jersey’s Mackenzie Blackwood had been individually confirmed and, if still unvaccinated, would not be permitted to travel to Canada after January 15 and per NHL rules could be suspended by their teams for those absences. 

The situation is more complicated for Montreal’s Jesse Ylonen, who would not be able to travel with the NHL or AHL club to the United States, as he could not then return. However, those are the few cases of concern out of hundreds of NHL players, making this change of little consequence to the league.