Red Wings lose defenseman Marc Staal.

The Detroit Red Wings will be without one of their veteran defensemen for a little while.

On Monday morning the team officially announced that blue liner Marc Staal had been placed on the National Hockey League's Covid protocol list, presumably after he popped positive for the virus. As is always the case in these situations it is impossible to predict how long Staal will be out, as other cases across the league have varied wildly this season.

We have seen some cases of false positives where players have been allowed to return to action the very next day, while others have been out for extended periods of time in the case of those with more severe symptoms. In all cases however a player must have two consecutive negative tests before being eligible to return to action, and that will also be the case for Staal here.

Of course the biggest concern here will be the health and well being of both Staal and his family, and I want to wish him and full and speedy recovery.