Oilers' Goalie Reveals Heart Condition Due to COVID-19

The Edmonton Oilers claimed goaltender Alex Stalock off waivers on Monday via the Minnesota Wild. The 33-year-old netminder has yet to appear in an NHL game and recently revealed he's dealing with a developed heart condition stemming from his positive COVID-19 diagnosis from November.

Stalock spoke to The Athletic's Michael Russo and provided the fine details as the Wild had reported he'd been sidelined all season with an upper-body injury.

Those first couple weeks were scary. You go on the internet and read stuff and you're like, 'Holy shit'. I was completely asymptomatic, but they think because I had no symptoms and had it in my system that because it was right at the time where we were ramping things up with skating and working out and ramping up for the season that my heart was working and working and working and started to get stressed and swell because of the virus in my system.

It was mentally draining and very frustrating. Every doctor you talk to, they’re like, 'This is so new, we don’t know what can happen.' And you're like, 'Well, that doesn’t help.

Once Stalock was examined for COVID the tests revealed myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart muscle and he was told to take a seat for six weeks and relax.

The netminder has been back working out for roughly a month and a half and he's ready to get back into the crease. The Oilers and Stalock will have to wait for introductions as he will need to quarantine for two weeks before being eligible to join the team.