San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle may not be able to skate, but he has a growing admiration for the game of hockey.

Kittle has a budding bromance with Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg, who both spend most of their summers in Nashville. They were introduced through their girlfriends.

"It's been really fun to be friends with someone in another sport. I think hockey is the hardest sport because I can't skate to save my life. I don't understand how they can move like they do," Kittle told The Athletic's Adam Vingan. "I have an appreciation for it, and being able to be a friend with one of the best hockey players in the NHL has been pretty cool for me."

Kittle's position requires a unique skill set in which he's forced to block like an offensive lineman but catch passes like a wide receiver. He was named an All-Pro after his second straight 1,000-yard season and helped the Niners reach the Super Bowl.

Despite possessing rare athleticism of his own, Kittle is blown away by what Forsberg and other NHLers are able to do on the ice.

"The fact that Fil is more comfortable on skates than he is on land or grass is just insane to me," Kittle said. "I have the fake ice and a hockey goal and I get out and shoot sometimes, especially now when I'm stuck at home. I don't know how they do that stuff while on skates. Everything that they do, they're playing at high speed at all times. It's physical. It's a grind. It's a ton of games. You're traveling everywhere. I just respect the grind.

"I just respect the whole game of hockey. I think, honestly, it's just a beautiful masterpiece when it's played well."

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Hockey Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk has completed the final round of his chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed with stomach cancer in August, his son Eric confirmed Monday.

The former NHL star spent nine seasons with the Winnipeg Jets and five with the Buffalo Sabres before wrapping up his career with the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers. He produced 1,409 points in 1,188 regular-season games and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001.

The 57-year-old Hawerchuk then coached the OHL's Barrie Colts from 2010-19, when he stepped down due to his cancer diagnosis.

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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman acknowledged Monday that even if his league gets the green light to resume the 2019-20 campaign, it will take time for players to prepare for game action.

"As much as you may try to stay in shape with a home gym, our guys haven’t been on the ice for a month and they’re going to need two-to-three weeks to get back into playing shape," Bettman told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

“So as much as we may worry about keeping everybody, not just our players or the NHL family, but everybody safe from the coronavirus, we also want to make sure that our players don't jeopardize their health by coming back too soon and not being in game shape.”

The NHL has been mulling a number of options for a potential resumption of the current season, including playing games at neutral sites. The league is also reportedly willing to delay next season's commencement until November if the current campaign can be salvaged.

Bettman confirmed Monday that essentially all options remain on the table. He added that the league will be ready to move quickly if an opportunity to return arises.

"We're exploring and want to be prepared for every option - whenever the circumstances present themselves - so we haven't ruled anything in, we haven't ruled anything out and we'll be prepared to go in whatever direction makes sense at the time," he said.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs were one game away from the Stanley Cup Final in 1993, but Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings stood in their path.

After a controversial victory in Game 6, Gretzky put on a show in Game 7, potting a hat trick and adding an assist as the Kings won 5-4. With the win, L.A. punched a ticket to its first-ever final, leaving Cup-hungry Leafs fans in the dust.

Watch live at 8 p.m. ET:

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Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane only spent two seasons playing with Artemi Panarin, now a New York Ranger, but he looks back fondly.

When asked which player Kane would most want by his side when going in on a two-on-one, he didn't hesitate.

"I know I played with him (Panarin) a couple of years, but the way he sees the game and the way he plays it was very similar to the way that I saw the game," Kane said on a video conference call Monday. "Just really, really fun hockey ... just kind of playing off each other, hanging out on our sides, and almost mirroring each other, what the other person was going to do. That was probably the funnest hockey that I've ever played was playing with him."

In 2015-16, their first season together, Panarin took home the Calder Trophy while Kane grabbed the Hart and Art Ross Trophies. Across both seasons together, Kane racked up 80 goals and 195 points while Panarin posted 61 goals and 151 points.

Panarin said in February that he expected to play his whole career in Chicago and revealed that his trade to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2017 still confuses him. The 28-year-old inked a seven-year, $81.5-million contract with the Rangers last summer.

The two dynamic wingers have continued to play at elite levels separately. In the three seasons since Panarin's trade, Kane has mustered up 104 goals and 270 points in 230 games, while Panarin has potted 87 goals and 264 points in 229 games.

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Welcome to Puck Pursuit, an interview-style podcast hosted by John Matisz, theScore's national hockey writer.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Danny Briere, former star NHL forward and current vice president of operations for the ECHL's Maine Mainers, joins the show to discuss a variety of topics, including:

• Danny's wife Misha working on the COVID-19 frontlines
• His interest in the business side of pro hockey
• Going to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final with the Flyers
• Living with teammates Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier
• Co-captaining those dominant mid-2000s Sabres teams

... and much more!

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Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.

With the 2019-20 campaign likely in the books, there's no time like the present for hockey bettors to take a way-too-early look at next season.

The exact salary cap isn't known for next season, but using the rise from 2018-19 to 2019-20 as a point of reference, we can probably expect something just shy of $85 million, which would be on the lower end of the range given by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly in March.

With that figure, we can point out some teams facing cap issues that are worth monitoring closely this offseason, as they could become clubs to fade in 2020-21.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Cap issues aside, the Leafs are usually a reliable fade. That's not a knock on the team itself, it's a comment on the brand. Much like the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, and Los Angeles Lakers, sportsbooks are never going to be lacking for Leafs money. That results in inflated lines, with the public quick to bite.

If you had bet against the Leafs in every game in 2019-20, you would have come out ahead. The same goes for 2018-19. With the team keeping its hyped forward core intact, there's every reason to believe the same should be true in 2020-21.

Toronto's defensive issues should be amplified next season with Cody Ceci, Tyson Barrie, and Travis Dermott all impending free agents, while Ilya Mikheyev, Jason Spezza, and Frederik Gauthier also need new deals. With the Leafs being so tight up against the cap, they're likely going to lose at least a handful of these guys, and that's going to hurt this team's depth at both ends of the ice. While none of these names individually shift the needle, that actually helps our cause, as sportsbooks likely won't adjust despite the team getting worse.

Arizona Coyotes

With nearly $75 million invested in 17 players (including two goalies), the Coyotes will likely have under $10 million to re-sign restricted free agents Vinnie Hinostroza and Christian Fischer, leaving them with little money left to bring back, or find replacements for, unrestricted free agents Taylor Hall, Carl Soderberg, and Brad Richardson.

Arizona will have little to no flexibility to improve the roster and it's going to be hard for general manager John Chayka to get creative with Conor Garland and four of the team's top-five defensemen set to be free agents after next season. Playing in such a small market, the Coyotes weren't valued highly by oddsmakers to begin with, but the roster should more fairly reflect their value next season.

Chicago Blackhawks

It's going to be a messy offseason for the Blackhawks and GM Stan Bowman, who is no stranger to a cap crunch. Restricted free agents Dominik Kubalik, Drake Caggiula, and Dylan Strome are in line for considerable raises, while both of the team's goaltenders are impending free agents. With $74 million already tied up, the team will have just over $10 million to re-sign those three and get a pair of goalies under contract. That's not going to happen without Bowman shedding some serious salary.

But even if he magically finds a way to get rid of some low-impact guys and fit everyone else under the cap, there will be no money remaining to improve the roster. Without reinforcements, a ton of pressure will be on Strome and Alex DeBrincat, who have both had disconcertingly down seasons, as well as Chicago's ageing stars.

The Blackhawks are another popular team that often sees a bit of inflation with their odds, and given the predicament they find themselves in, we should be able to take advantage.

Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.

With the 2019-20 campaign likely in the books, there's no time like the present for hockey bettors to take a way-too-early look at next season.

The exact salary cap isn't known for next season, but using the rise from 2018-19 to 2019-20 as a point of reference, we can probably expect something just shy of $85 million, which would be on the lower end of the range given by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly in March.

With that figure, we can point out some teams facing cap issues that are worth monitoring closely this offseason, as they could become clubs to fade in 2020-21.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Cap issues aside, the Leafs are usually a reliable fade. That's not a knock on the team itself, it's a comment on the brand. Much like the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, and Los Angeles Lakers, sportsbooks are never going to be lacking for Leafs money. That results in inflated lines, with the public quick to bite.

If you had bet against the Leafs in every game in 2019-20, you would have come out ahead. The same goes for 2018-19. With the team keeping its hyped forward core intact, there's every reason to believe the same should be true in 2020-21.

Toronto's defensive issues should be amplified next season with Cody Ceci, Tyson Barrie, and Travis Dermott all impending free agents, while Ilya Mikheyev, Jason Spezza, and Frederik Gauthier also need new deals. With the Leafs being so tight up against the cap, they're likely going to lose at least a handful of these guys, and that's going to hurt this team's depth at both ends of the ice. While none of these names individually shift the needle, that actually helps our cause, as sportsbooks likely won't adjust despite the team getting worse.

Arizona Coyotes

With nearly $75 million invested in 17 players (including two goalies), the Coyotes will likely have under $10 million to re-sign restricted free agents Vinnie Hinostroza and Christian Fischer, leaving them with little money left to bring back, or find replacements for, unrestricted free agents Taylor Hall, Carl Soderberg, and Brad Richardson.

Arizona will have little to no flexibility to improve the roster and it's going to be hard for general manager John Chayka to get creative with Conor Garland and four of the team's top-five defensemen set to be free agents after next season. Playing in such a small market, the Coyotes weren't valued highly by oddsmakers to begin with, but the roster should more fairly reflect their value next season.

Chicago Blackhawks

It's going to be a messy offseason for the Blackhawks and GM Stan Bowman, who is no stranger to a cap crunch. Restricted free agents Dominik Kubalik, Drake Caggiula, and Dylan Strome are in line for considerable raises, while both of the team's goaltenders are impending free agents. With $74 million already tied up, the team will have just over $10 million to re-sign those three and get a pair of goalies under contract. That's not going to happen without Bowman shedding some serious salary.

But even if he magically finds a way to get rid of some low-impact guys and fit everyone else under the cap, there will be no money remaining to improve the roster. Without reinforcements, a ton of pressure will be on Strome and Alex DeBrincat, who have both had disconcertingly down seasons, as well as Chicago's ageing stars.

The Blackhawks are another popular team that often sees a bit of inflation with their odds, and given the predicament they find themselves in, we should be able to take advantage.

Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.