Gary Bettman said that starting the 2020-21 season as late as December is on the table as the league considers all options for finishing this season and beginning the following one.

"We have a great deal of flexibility in terms of when we can start," Bettman said in an interview with NHL Network on Thursday. "There's no magic for next season of starting in October as we traditionally do. If we have to start in November or December, that's something that will be under consideration. We're going to try to make good, prudent, careful judgments. This isn't a race to be first back."

The NHL paused its season on March 12th due to COVID-19.

Bettman said there is no firm timeline or target dates established.

"We're going to have to take things one step at a time, because the health and well-being of our players is paramount to anything we're focused on," he said.

"Our health concerns for the players really fit into two categories: One is obviously COVID-19, and two, whatever we're going to do, we don't want them playing games until they're back in game shape. We don't want anybody getting injured."

The NHL is hoping its players can return to local team training facilities at "some point in the latter half of May," if local restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic will allow it.

"We are not targeting a specific date at this point in time," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN via email on Wednesday. "We are hoping for some point in the latter half of May. Remains to be seen."

Chief medical officers from major sports leagues participated in a call Tuesday with Seema Verma, who is a member of the White House coronavirus task force and administrator for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The call, according to a White House official, was to go over how sports play a role in President Donald Trump's plan for opening up America amid the coronavirus pandemic. Verma also updated league medical officials on the latest testing available and encouraged them to follow guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Chicago Blackhawks fired president and CEO John McDonough, the team announced Monday.

McDonough was hired by the Blackhawks in 2007 and was seen as a major architect of the Blackhawks' Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015. Before that, the team hadn't won a Cup since 1961.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman discussed a potential four-arena plan for a season restart, a draft held before the season is completed and fans returning to games during a wide-ranging interview with Sportsnet on Wednesday.

"Anything we're considering doing starts with health and well-being, whether it's the players or other personnel or fans or the community at large. Everybody is going through a tough time," Bettman told Ron MacLean on "In Conversation."

Sports around the world have only been on hiatus since mid-March, but when the numbers are crunched, the impact coronavirus has had on the industry will certainly leave an impact for years to come. Only 53% of the sports events originally scheduled for 2020 are likely to take place this calendar year.

That means, according to new projections from Two Circles, a sports marketing agency, just 26,424 sporting events will be held by the calendar-end of 2020 -- with the possibility that more are canceled as the virus spreads.

Wayne Gretzky is optimistic the NHL will be able to resume at some point this summer.

Gretzky told The Associated Press on Sunday he is hopeful hockey and other sports will be able to come back from the coronavirus pandemic and serve as a positive sign that conditions are improving.

NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr on Saturday said he has not yet had any discussions with the NHL about specific neutral-site locations for a potential Stanley Cup playoffs this summer.

"Other than the general understanding that they're looking at all possibilities, which includes neutral sites -- neutral being defined as a place that isn't a home base for an NHL team," Fehr told ESPN. "We haven't had those discussions yet."

Former Montreal Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov retired from professional hockey Thursday.

The 41-year-old Markov played 990 regular-season games for the Canadiens between 2000 and 2017 before returning home to Russia to finish his career.

Markov spent his final three years in the Kontinental Hockey League, suiting up for the last time this season with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

Left wing Sammy Blais on Wednesday agreed to a two-year, $3 million contract extension with the St. Louis Blues, the team announced.

The new deal carries an average annual value of $1.5 million, and keeps St. Louis from potentially losing Blais, 23, in restricted free agency after this season.