Yahoo Sports 
NHL staying patient, open-minded, and in check amid COVID-19 pandemic
Not much has changed for Gary Bettman and the National Hockey League since pressing pause on the 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but we did receive a glimpse into the league’s process Monday — now one month into the hiatus — after the commissioner made a brief appearance on CNN with host Anderson Cooper.
Bettman’s main take-home message, which didn’t stray from the ideas he’s offered in previous interviews, remains that the timeline on when the NHL may return to play is completely out of the hands of those in the league office.
“It all starts with everyone’s health and wellbeing,” Bettman explained. “Until there’s a sense that people can get together — not just to fill our arenas but even our players to get together to work out, we don’t know when we can come back.
“It’s something we’re monitoring on a daily basis.”
In terms of new information, Bettman echoed a recent report out of the NBA which outlined the process toward re-launching the season (or moving immediately into a postseason) once players have the opportunity to resume training.
He said that the athletes will need “two to three weeks” to return to playing shape, and that the league will not accelerate that process at the risk of its employees.
“As much as we may worry about keeping everybody safe from the coronavirus, we also want to to make sure our players don’t jeopardize their health by coming back too soon and not being in game shape,” Bettman said, explaining that home workouts simply aren’t sufficient enough to sustain adequate levels of on-ice conditioning.
This is consistent with a report that recently leaked out of the NBA’s camp, which shouldn’t be a surprise as it appears all major professional sports organizations have verbally or tacitly agreed to move in lockstep with one another.
Whether this was decided during or in the moments that followed the conference call earlier this month between the commissioners of the major sports leagues in North America and U.S. president Donald Trump may depend on who you ask, but it appears the leagues will share information and rely on each other when moving forward with plans.
One shared idea that seems to be gaining momentum as the leagues angle for strategies that could see them avoid canceling their suspended seasons is the prospect of using neutral sites to stage and salvage competition.
Bettman acknowledged that it has been a discussion in the NHL offices, even naming North Dakota as a location that’s been discussed, but did not put any more stock into the idea beyond that. He explained that all options remain open and all proposals will be considered — including ones that on the outside would be considered more far-fetched.
“We’re exploring and want to be prepared for every option, (however) the circumstances present themselves. So we haven’t ruled anything in, we haven’t ruled anything out,” Bettman said.
“We’ll be prepared to go in whatever direction makes sense at the time.”
While it’s clear leagues will not risk the wellbeing of their athletes or the public in order to return to action, the role that sports will have in bringing society back to a state of normalcy is understood, and ostensibly had been underscored by the U.S. government.
Bettman touched on that when asked about the “constructive” meeting with Trump.
“It’s something for the psyche of the American and, in my case, Canadian public, and is very important,” he said. “Sports can be part of bringing people together, can be part of healing. But we all agree that until it’s the right time, there are more pressing issues.”
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