PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It wasn't exactly a packed practice, but the Flyers were happy to have at least some players back on the ice.
For the first time since the team shut down activities due to COVID-19 issues, the Flyers held a practice in Voorhees.
Only a limited number of players were able to participate and more will be allowed to practice on Tuesday, but it was a relief for many of the players to see practice resume after a difficult week.
Head coach Alain Vigneault is ready to move forward.
"We’ve been shut down," said Vigneault. "We’ve been testing and going home and staying home. We’ve been doing exactly what the NHL wants us to do, and hopefully we got it in time and now this virus is going to stay away from our team."
While Vigneault and the team are hoping that will be the case, there are no guarantees in this NHL season.
The coach spent much of his time off checking on his players, especially the ones who were dealing with the virus.
Vigneault does not expect anyone on the COVID-19 list to be ready to play against the Rangers on Thursday night, so he has yet to determine who will be on the ice when the Flyers play their first game since the shutdown.
"We’ve been telling everybody to stay ready," Vigneault said. "We didn’t know how long this would be, was it going to be seven days, eight days, a full two weeks, so whatever you can do from your own home, try and stay safe. We didn’t know how exactly this was going to unfold. But now we’re good to go, we need to put 20 healthy skaters on the ice, which is what we’re going to do, and we’ll go from there."
It has been difficult for the players to not only deal with the virus, but also to be away from each other, and forward Kevin Hayes knows everyone has to play it safe and wait out the quarantine.
"It’s been tough for everyone," said Hayes. "Everyone in this organization wants to play hockey. It’s what we get paid to do. Obviously, safety comes first and we had some positive cases.”
While the team is hoping this will be the last quarantine of the season, several other NHL clubs have also been dealing with shutdowns.
General manager Chuck Fletcher said the human nature of dealing with the pandemic was evident and playing hockey took a back seat to the health of everyone in the organization.
"Everybody’s human," Fletcher said. "Nobody wants to get sick. You’re worried about your family. You’re worried about your teammates. You’re worried about yourself. I think we’ve all gone through a lot this last week."