Oilers’ Josh Archibald out indefinitely with heart condition

EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers solving the mystery as to why Josh Archibald hadn’t been well enough to skate with teammates recently.

After undergoing a battery of tests over the past week, the Edmonton Oilers forward was found by doctors to have COVID-19 antibodies and the heart condition myocarditis. Doctors believe Archibald, 28, contracted COVID-19 sometime this summer, between leaving the Oilers after their Round 1 playoff exit and the point in which he tested negative upon returning to Edmonton in the fall.

“He had a severe viral infection coming out of his quarantine,” after arriving in Canada fort training camp, Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said on Sunday. “What the tests showed is that at some point this summer he’d had COVID, and he tested positive for the antibodies.

“He has also been diagnosed with myocarditis.”

Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle, the same condition that struck Oilers third-string goalie Alex Stalock, as a result of a bout with COVID-19. It has become relatively common for athletes to suffer from myocarditis, as COVID-19 leaves their hearts vulnerable when they ramp up their training post-illness.

Dr. Ian Paterson, Cardiologist at Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute adds myocarditis is a treatable condition caused by a virus that typically impacts one in one million people, but COVID has drastically changed the game.

“Seems to be about 10 per cent of patients who have had COVID have shown signs of myocarditis.”

Archibald has not been healthy enough to skate with his teammates here, despite daily negative COVID-19 tests. After doing blood work, the Oilers doctors found that Archibald — who has posted on social media against getting vaccinated — had contracted COVID-19 at some point.

Archibald was the last player on a Canadian NHL team to remain unvaccinated, which would have been very problematic had the Oilers planned to keep him in their lineup. Every time the team crossed the U.S. border and then returned to Canada — 13 times this season — Archibald would have been forced to quarantine for 14 days, away from his team and teammates.

That would have resulted in him missing close to half the season, as well as copious amounts of practice time. And with the likelihood of an American opponent, once the playoffs began, it never seemed realistic that an unvaccinated Archibald would have been.

The Oilers Alex Stalock and Boston Red Sox Pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez also developed myocarditis after battling COVID. Many college athletes also developed the condition after contracting the virus. While it can be mild and cured, the risk of heart failure means affected athletes must pause their careers.

“If they went prematurely back to their activity while the heart is still healing, then maybe they cause more injury to the heart by putting more stress on the body,” explained Paterson.

“We need to use the Archibald story as an example, a cautionary tale – about misconception of risk,” explained Timothy Caulfield, health policy and law expert at the University of Alberta.

“Relatively common, like one in a thousand – but they got the numbers wrong.”

Instead, it appears closer to one in 25,000. But even after retracting the paper and admitting their error, the invalidated research is still being preached as gospel by vaccine opponents – and could eventually become a so-called zombie paper.

“The most notorious example of that is the Andrew Wakefield paper that was retracted from Lansing that suggested there was a connection between vaccines and autism. There is not, but that lives on,” said Caulfield.

The Council of Canada’s top doctors confirmed that vaccine cases of myocarditis do occur – more likely in men under 30. But they add the risk of heart inflammation is much higher if you contract COVID- another reason to evaluate your sources.

“You can use that uncertainty to doubt monger, to just create doubt, and when you are someone doing the risk analysis on getting the vaccine – which you should – that can have an impact.”