Habs players Brendan Gallagher & Sami Niku are out of COVID-19 protocol

UPDATED Dec. 15 12:23 p.m. The Montreal Canadiens announced this morning that forward Brendan Gallagher and defenseman Sami Niku are no longer in NHL COVID-19 protocol and will participate in graded exercise before rejoining the team next week.

Gallagher and Niku tested positive for the virus on Dec. 2. Canadiens Coach Dominique Ducharme said in a press conference that day that they needed to test negative twice before exiting COVID protocol.

MEDICAL UPDATES: Brendan Gallagher and Sami Niku are no longer in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol, but they won’t practice with the main group today.

They will participate in a graded return to exercise and are expected to rejoin the team later in the week.

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 15, 2021

The Canadiens are playing the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre on Thursday.

This article was originally published on Dec. 2 and updated on Dec. 15, 2021.

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