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Dallas Stars Daily Links: What Now?

Jim Nill talks about the Stars’ plans for the coming weeks amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Plus, the ideal timeline for the NHL’s return to action, what the playoffs might look like in that scenario, and more.

The fate of the 2019-20 NHL season is still up in the air, to no one’s surprise. As much as we wish we had a crystal ball and could see the future, there’s no telling when (or if) the season will resume.

It’s for those reasons that Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill is focused on taking things one week at a time, making sure his employees are being cautious amidst the COVID-19 outbreak:

“Right now, for this week, I told everybody just be self-quarantined and we’ll re-adjust it next week,” Nill said. “Is that going to be two weeks, three weeks? That’s the unknown. … Have we all done a good job of getting self-quarantined, staying away, looking after ourselves or have things gotten out of hand? That’s what we’ll have to decide.”

In the event that play does resume at some point, it’ll be important that the players are still in shape and well-conditioned. Thankfully, many of them are already used to working out at home during the offseason:

“Some of them have bikes, some don’t have bikes,” Nill said. “Some have treadmills, weights, there’s different training things you can do without weights and stuff. Go outside and train as long as they’re not in groups and around people. There’s nothing to stop them from going for runs.”

You can read more from Matthew DeFranks here.

Stars News

Also from DeFranks, the Stars’ coaching staff can best use this extended break by figuring out how to improve the team’s offense:

This could have an impact on the Stars’ plans for the upcoming weeks:

Around the League

Originally, the NHL was hoping to pause play for only 3-4 weeks. It’s looking more and more likely that it’s much longer:

In fact, the NHL is now hoping to get the ball rolling again roughly 6-7 weeks from now:

Of course, Canada would have to lift their newest immigration restrictions by then:

Assuming play does resume eventually, the NHL might jump straight into a 24-team postseason, which would be interesting to say the least:

Of course, the format is one thing — how it’s actually executed is another matter altogether:

Most hockey fans are fixated on coronavirus’ impact on the NHL, but it’s effects have been felt across every level of play:

Finally, after years of being made fun of for simulating game outcomes, it’s finally time for the advanced stats “nerds” to shine:

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