Zac Rinaldo not welcome at Blue Jackets camp due to COVID-19 vaccine status
The Columbus Blue Jackets are taking a hard stance in terms of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre was fired earlier in September for refusing to be vaccinated and the team has also told @Zac Rinaldo that he won’t be welcome at the team’s training camp for the same reason. Rinaldo appeared at a People’s Party of Canada rally last week, stating that he was “pro-choice” in terms of the vaccine.
Columbus Blue Jackets player Zac Rinaldo gave a short speech against vaccine passports at a PPC party rally this week.
“I’m not anti-vax, I’m not anti-mask. I’m pro choice.”
Interesting given CBJ just fired a coach for not being vaccinated. https://t.co/xDPje86TyQ
— Mack Lamoureux (@MackLamoureux) September 17, 2021
Rinaldo inked a one-year, two-way deal with the Blue Jackets back in August and was expected to come to camp to compete for a depth role on the club. He’s played 374 games over his NHL career but has spent the last few seasons on the bus between the NHL and the AHL. Most recently, he played four games with the Calgary Flames in 2021 and spent most of the year on the team’s Taxi Squad.
Rinaldo will still be invited to the AHL Cleveland Monsters’ training camp later this month, but not having the COVID-19 vaccine will likely make it difficult for him to earn a call-up to the NHL club.
The NHL has taken a fairly hard stance in terms of the vaccine in 2021-22, limiting what unvaccinated players are able to do during the season. Under NHL rules, teams can suspend players who aren’t able to travel due to not being vaccinated and players will lose pay for all days they miss with COVID-19 if they aren’t vaccinated.