Notebook: Games rescheduled for February; Gemel Smith claimed off waivers

DETROIT -- With four days in between games, it's a bit quiet in Hockeytown. But the NHL season keeps chugging along, and we now have clarity about what the unique month of February will look like.
The NHL unveiled a reshuffled schedule on Wednesday afternoon, rescheduling nearly 100 games that were postponed due to pandemic-related issues.
Eight of those contests feature the Red Wings
, including three home games in the month of February. Detroit will now host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, Feb. 12, the Colorado Avalanche will visit Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 23, and the Toronto Maple Leafs home game - originally scheduled for April 26 - will now be played on Saturday, Feb. 26.

Fans that purchased tickets
for the originally scheduled Feb. 23 game against Philadelphia are not able to use those tickets for the Avalanche game on Feb. 23, as those must now be used on Feb. 12. Ticketmaster buyers will receive an email detailing all options.
The Red Wings will now play seven games in the month of February, which was originally reserved for NHL players traveling to Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The complete 2021-22 NHL regular-season schedule can be accessed at nhl.com/schedule.

Gemel Smith claimed off waivers

It's officially a family affair in the Red Wings organization.
The Red Wings claimed center Gemel Smith
- the 27-year-old older brother of Givani Smith - off waivers from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday. Gemel Smith has yet to appear in a game this season while recovering from a lower-body injury.
During his eight-year professional career, Gemel Smith has spent time with the Dallas Stars (2016-19), Boston Bruins (2018-19) and Tampa Bay, and those clubs' respective American Hockey League affiliates. In the past three years with Tampa Bay, he has split time between the Lightning and the AHL's Syracuse Crunch during the organization's back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup championship.
Givani Smith has appeared in 31 games for the Red Wings this season, and logged eight or more minutes of ice time in 19 contests. The winger has tallied four points with two goals and a pair of assists. The Smith brothers are Toronto natives.

NHL and NHLPA issue update on COVID protocol

The NHLPA and NHL announced updates to their COVID protocols late Tuesday afternoon. Provided positive test results continue to decline across the league, updates include the following:
• There will be no testing of Fully Vaccinated Players and Staff during the All-Star break (including for participating Players and staff), unless needed for travel or development of symptoms.
• There will be a single test upon re-entry to Club facilities post-All-Star, after which there will no longer be asymptomatic testing, or testing of Fully Vaccinated close contacts.
• Thereafter, testing will continue only on a limited "for cause" basis in Fully Vaccinated Players and Staff who develop symptoms or require testing for cross-border travel.
• The post-COVID "testing holiday" will remain at 90 days, but symptom-based testing can still be done at the team physician's discretion. Testing for cross-border travel post-COVID will be dictated by the relevant health authority, which is currently 90 days for entry to the U.S. and 180 days for entry to Canada.
Detroit hopes it is on the back end of COVID protocols, as goalie Thomas Greiss is currently the only Red Wings player out of the lineup due to the pandemic.
Before the NHL's announcement on Tuesday, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill addressed reports that the league's protocols would be adjusted.
"It's kind of got to that point where it appears that, especially with this newest variant, it hasn't been a strong response to it from people," Blashill said. "I think at that point, you start to adjust how you handle it. I think everybody in the science world is learning on the fly with this and I think that's just the reality of making decisions. I think it's a good, strong decision by our group."
And still, the pandemic continues to evolve. It's a daily concern across the NHL, especially for personnel that hasn't tested positive for the virus.
"You hope the disruption is less and less as the year goes along, both from a team aspect, a league aspect and individual players," Blashill said. "You still have a number of individual players who haven't yet tested positive, and so you're worried about them. But a number of us have, and it kind of leaves us in a spot where there should be less disruption."

Home, sweet home

Before February's tweaked schedule gets underway, the Red Wings will wrap up the month of January with four of their six remaining games at Little Caesars Arena. Detroit is 13-6-2 at home this season, accounting for more than 70 percent of its wins.
The Red Wings will host the Dallas Stars this Friday in the front end of a back-to-back that wraps up on Saturday at Nashville. Detroit will then play four games from Jan. 26-31, including home dates against the Chicago Blackhawks (Wednesday, Jan. 26), Toronto Maple Leafs (Saturday, Jan. 29) and Anaheim Ducks (Monday, Jan. 31).