April is supposed to be a time for wild-card mayhem, double-overtime Game 7s and four-game sweeps of everyone’s Stanley Cup shoo-in. It’s supposed to be when fans are developing new superstitions and relying on old ones to get their teams one win closer to 16 so their favorite players can try out a new (old?) shiny cereal bowl.
But the hockey world—as is the rest of the world—is on pause as the focus turns toward flattening the curve. The picture of when life will return to normal is no clearer than it was a few weeks ago, an acknowledgment Gary Bettman made Tuesday when he said that completing the 2019–20 regular season “may not be possible.