The Pittsburgh Penguins announced Monday that the team will be voluntarily sidelining nine players from their training camp roster due to potential secondary exposure to an individual who had contact with a person that has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

The team learned of the possible secondary exposure on Sunday and added the decision was made to sideline the players out of abundance of caution in an effort to avoid exposure to anyone else within the organization.

The nine players will re-join the team when it is deemed safe to do so in accordance with NHL protocol and further test results.

The Penguins announced in June that a player had tested positive for COVID-19, but he had subsequently recovered and was feeling well.

The NHL said last week in over 2,900 tests administered to 396 players since the beginning of Phase 2, 23 had come back positive. Twelve players outside the Phase 2 protocol had also informed the league of positive tests.

Phase 3 - or training camps - began on Monday.