NHL latest league to put season on hold

The NHL put its season on pause Thursday amid the global coronavirus pandemic, becoming the latest league to suspend operations. "The NHL has been attempting to follow the mandates of health experts and local authorities while preparing for any possible developments without taking premature or unnecessary measures," commissioner Gary Bettman said in a league statement.

"However, following last night's news that an NBA player has tested positive for coronavirus -- and given that our leagues share so many facilities and locker rooms and it now seems likely that some member of the NHL community would test positive at some point -- it is no longer appropriate to try to continue to play games at this time." The NBA suspended its season Wednesday night after Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus. His teammate, Donovan Mitchell, later tested positive. On Thursday, MLS also suspended play, and MLB and the PGA Tour later follow suit, and the NCAA canceled its men's and women's basketball tournaments.

Bettman made the stoppage announcement after a conference call with the Board of Governors. The commissioner later went on CNBC and said that he hopes the league will be able to conclude the 2019-20 season.

"I'm a little hesitant to use the word suspension because our hope and our expectation is when things get back to normal and it's safe and it's prudent, that we can go back and resume the season and ultimately have the Stanley Cup awarded," Bettman said. He added that no NHL player has yet tested positive for COVID-19.

"My hope is that at some point we'll get back to some normalcy," Bettman said. "And that's not just my hope for the NHL, and it's not just my hope for all sports, it's my hope for everything that's going on."