It was inevitable that COVID-19 would impact the 2021 NHL season, but the Washington Capitals didn't imagine it would impact them so early -- or so hard.
After their first road trip to Buffalo and Pittsburgh, goalie Ilya Samsonov tested positive for the coronavirus. The NHL's contact tracing revealed the team's four Russian players (captain Alex Ovechkin, forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, defenseman Dmitry Orlov and Samsonov) spent time in the same hotel room, violating the NHL's strict road trip rules. The Capitals were fined $100,000, and the players were required to quarantine at least 10 days.