The Columbus Blue Jackets have disinvited Zac Rinaldo from training camp because the 31-year-old NHL forward has refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Rinaldo, a nine-year NHL veteran who spent the last two seasons with Calgary, will begin the season with the Blue Jackets' minor league affiliate in Cleveland.
'Forward Zac Rinaldo, who we signed to a two-way contract this summer, is not vaccinated and because of that -- and that's his decision -- the plan is to start him in the American Hockey League and he will not be coming to our training camp,' team president John Davison told reporters before training camp opens on Wednesday.
'We're going to have 67 players in our camp and they're all going to be vaccinated,' Davidson continued. 'Everything we do, we do together as a team.'
In August, the 31-year-old Rinaldo signed a two-way deal, which allows the Blue Jackets to move him between the NHL club and its AHL team, the Cleveland Monsters. But while Rinaldo's NHL salary would be $750,000, he'd make only $275,000 playing in the minors, according to CapFriendly.com.
As general manager Jarmo Kekalainen put it, 'the ball is in [Rinaldo's] court right now.'
The Columbus Blue Jackets have disinvited forward Zac Rinaldo from training camp because the 31-year-old NHL veteran has refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Rinaldo, a nine-year NHL veteran who spent the last two seasons with Calgary, will begin the season with the Blue Jackets' minor league affiliate in Cleveland
Rinaldo disapproves of vaccine mandates, and voiced support for the People's Party of Canada at a September 16 rally in Hamilton, Ontario because the group opposes injection requirements, according to ESPN.
The decision follows a similar move from Friday in which the Blue Jackets dismissed assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre because he, too, refused to get vaccinated.
'Lefebvre has decided not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and thus will not be able to perform the duties required of him given current NHL protocols,' read the team statement.
