Armstrong: Canes already dealing with coronavirus chaos

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Just three games into their season, Rod Brind'Amour and the Carolina Hurricanes are already dealing with coronavirus chaos.

"We've got guys sitting in Nashville right now in a hotel room that can't leave the room you know? It's brutal, I feel for these guys," Brind'Amour said.

There's no shining up the COVID apple. It's rotten and what makes it worse is that the Canes were doing everything right and still...

"Didn't matter, you know, it got into our room," Brind'Amour said matter of factly on Thursday.

GM Don Waddell said as of now, the plan is still to make up missed games later in the season.

"I've been on the calls morning with the NHL as far as the schedule makers trying to see when we can fit games in," Waddell said. "It's not going to be ideal, but we all are in the same situation that we're trying to get through the season."

The team and the NHL have worked together to try to trace how the virus got a foothold but there are just no clear answers.

"I've become much smarter on protocols and everything in the last 24 hours and being a doctor, but I mean, if we could figure out where it's coming from, I think there'd be a lot of sports teams that'd be pretty happy about that," Waddell said.

The only choice now? Plow ahead. The team just added rapid testing machines at their practice facility and Waddell said he hopes they can be back on the ice in the next couple days to practice at least. In the meantime it's all about working from home.

"Today we had a practice but it was practice on Zoom and you know we got that done and now they've got to figure a way to stay in shape on their own. (Strength and Conditioning Coach) Bill Burniston has been out traveling around dropping bikes off," Brind'Amour laughed.

Professional athletes and coaches and especially Brind'Amour aren't used to being and feeling powerless, but it's a reality they now have to accept.

"It's not really about was it going to happen, it's how do you deal with it and I think that's really what we're going to find out," Brind'Amour said. "I believe in the group, I think we can find a way to kind of get through this. I think we'll be stronger in a lot of ways."