Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers, Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers and players from the New York Islanders purchased and arranged delivery of N95 masks to hospitals in their market over the past few days to aid health care workers in the fight against the coronavirus.
The players arranged the purchase of the masks and the donations. The NHL season has been paused since March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
Panarin, a forward in his first season with the Rangers, donated 1,500 masks to Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. They were delivered Friday.
"We are so grateful for Artemi Panarin's incredibly generous gift of N95 masks to HSS," said Dr. Bryan Kelly, the surgeon-in-chief at Hospital for Special Surgery. "Along with his teammates, Panarin also created a video thanking HSS for our commitment to helping NYC during this pandemic. On behalf of every clinical staff member at HSS, we would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to Panarin for his generosity during this time. Additionally, we'd like to thank Jim Ramsay, head athletic trainer for the Rangers, for his help coordinating their efforts."
Bobrovsky, who in his first season as Panthers goalie
donated $100,000 to help BB&T Center workers
stabalize their situations with no events at the venue, donated thousands of masks to multiple hospitals in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area.
Islanders players donated 3,000 masks to Northwell Health system on Long Island that were delivered Thursday.
