The NHL hasn't announced a return date for the 2019-20 season after pausing action on March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the league still has confidence it will complete the full season and playoffs.
"I think as time has gone on, we've recognized we might have a bigger window than we had originally thought with respect to the summer months and when we have to finish things to be ready for a full regular season next year," Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said, per Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com.
The league has asked teams for arena availability through August, while the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics opened up television spots on NBC over the summer.
"I will say that it remains our hope, if not our goal, to be playing hockey sooner than [July]," Daly said. "Depending on how things play out, we'd love to be playing sometime in the spring, and then if we have to leak into early summer, we'd love to have that problem."
Four players in the NHL have tested positive for COVID-19, while there have been over 150,000 cases in the United States, per CNN.com, leading to over 2,700 deaths.
Still, the league is confident it will continue its season at a later date.
Meanwhile, players have debated whether the NHL should simply start the playoffs when the action resumes or finish the regular season, with 12-14 games left for each team.
Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin want to go right into the postseason.
"For us, it's better if playoffs start right now," Ovechkin said last week, per Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. "We don't want to play extra games."
Connor McDavid disagreed even with his Edmonton Oilers currently in playoff position.
"You want a fair season. And a fair season is a full season," he said, per Greg Wyshynski of ESPN. "If we can do that, I think that's something we'd obviously prefer."
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