Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon denied a report that his team will stop paying full-time employees amid uncertainty caused by the coronavirus.

General manager Don Waddell sent out a directive to full-time employees explaining that the club is evaluating many scenarios for its employees during the NHL's postponement.

"We have been exploring multiple options on how best to take care of our employees while being mindful of the business challenges we face," Waddell said in the notice obtained by Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer.

The Hurricanes announced March 17 they'd cover lost wages for the arena and part-time events staff for the seven remaining home games on the schedule, which was officially paused by the league March 12.

Multiple teams across the big four North American sports leagues have cut employee payments due to the unprecedented stoppage. The Boston Bruins' parent company, Delaware North, announced Wednesday that 68 full-time salaried employees will be put on temporary leave, and 86 full-time employees were given an indefinite salary reduction.

The owners of the New Jersey Devils and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers recently announced they were planning to cut full-time workers' salaries but rescinded their respective decisions and publicly apologized shortly thereafter.

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With the 2019-20 NHL season on pause - and potentially finished - there are a number of questions that will need to be answered in the coming months.

One of the biggest unknowns is how the league will handle the draft lottery should the season be canceled. According to The Athletic's Craig Custance, at least one team has proposed an unorthodox solution - a tournament in which lottery teams would play for the first overall pick.

The idea is a no-brainer for fans and television networks. A tournament for the rights to a talent like Alexis Lafreniere would draw a ton of eyeballs and get fans re-engaged after the long hiatus. But for the teams involved, there are some serious questions that would first need to be answered.

1. How would teams be seeded?

If the regular season doesn't resume and the standings remain as they are, how would teams be seeded in this suggested tournament? Clubs have played a differing number of games, so seeding would likely need to be determined based on points percentage.

That's simple enough, but how would the tournament proceed? It wouldn't make any sense to have the worst teams in the tournament (presumably the higher seeds) competing against the better teams (the lower seeds) right off the bat. Would a bye be in order for the last-placed Detroit Red Wings? What would make it fair?

2. How would the worst teams be given better odds of winning?

We can almost guarantee that Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman would be appalled by this proposal. His team has the best odds of winning the draft lottery under its current format specifically because Detroit doesn't win a ton of hockey games. Now the team would have to win an entire tournament? It's a little backward.

On the flip side, imagine a team like the New York Rangers - who looked more like Stanley Cup contenders than lottery players when the season was suspended - running wild in this tournament. How would the league make their path to the final reflect their odds (2%) of winning the lottery under the traditional format? Would they need to win by a certain number of goals? Begin each game with a deficit? It seems difficult to translate those minuscule odds into an on-ice scenario.

3. What happens if a lottery team doesn't own its pick?

This is one of the proposal's major hurdles. Take the San Jose Sharks. They dealt their 2020 first-round selection to the Ottawa Senators as part of the Erik Karlsson deal. Each team sits 29th and 30th, respectively, in the overall standings. The Sharks wouldn't be afforded a lottery ball in the traditional format, so it wouldn't make sense to have them in the tournament. That's easy, but what about Ottawa?

Under the current lottery structure, the Senators would have an incredible opportunity to claim the top selection. Their pick alone gives them a 13.5% chance, and the San Jose pick yields odds of 11.5%. Assuming the tournament is single-elimination, would Ottawa be afforded more than one loss? What happens to the team's second lottery pick? How are the Senators' odds best reflected on the ice?

4. When and where would the games be played?

As Custance notes, holding this tournament during the summer, with fewer competing sports in play, could end up making this idea very successful and give the league something to build on. However, the league's priority is completing the playoffs, and the summer is the most likely time for that to happen. The NHL could hold both events simultaneously, but that would take some serious logistical savvy.

Another important question: Where will the games take place? It would only be fair to grant the worst teams (the Red Wings, Senators, Sharks, Los Angeles Kings, etc.) home-ice advantage, but where do you make that cutoff? How many home games does each of those teams get? Are their buildings even available? It would take a ton of brainstorming on the league's behalf to get this right.

5. How would picks 5-15 be determined?

Under this proposal, we'd assume the loser of the championship game would get the second pick, while the losers of each semifinal contest would square off for the third and fourth picks, like a bronze-medal game at the Olympics.

What happens to selections five through 15, though? If the league were to default the remaining standings based on points percentage to decide the order, what's the purpose in playing the early games in the tournament if the results only matter for teams that at least advance to the semifinals? The most logical approach would probably be for the "eliminated" teams to continue playing one another until a definitive order is reached based on those results.

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Henrik Lundqvist is doing his part during the coronavirus pandemic.

The New York Rangers goaltender and his wife, Therese, will give $100,000 to the Food Bank For New York City through their foundation, he announced Wednesday.

Lundqvist said he and Therese were inspired after seeing so many people "doing so many good things for others right now."

The longtime netminder added that the food bank "always (does) a great job but now more than ever they need that extra support while they feed New Yorkers in need."

Other athletes across the sports world are also donating to causes aimed at mitigating the effects of the pandemic. PGA golfer Brooks Koepka pledged $100,000 toward COVID-19 relief efforts in Florida, while NBA players Devin Booker and Karl-Anthony Towns each committed the same amount toward supporting various non-profit organizations and increasing testing capabilities, respectively.

The Food Bank For New York City has been the area's primary hunger-relief organization since 1983.

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The NHL's chief medical officer says it isn't yet possible to put a timetable on the league's return.

"... If we look where we are with this pandemic, it’s really just entering the rapid acceleration phase, certainly in North America, and if we look at our league, really we place our league in the context of the larger society, and we want to be doing our part to not only protect our players but also our staff and our fans as the disease unfolds,’’ Dr. Willem Meeuwisse said during a call with reporters Wednesday, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

“It’s difficult to predict where the pandemic is going and what the timeline will be, but we do expect this is going to get worse before it gets better," the expert added.

Meeuwisse also explained what it will take for the NHL to consider returning to action after pausing its season March 12 due to the spread of the coronavirus.

“The specific circumstances are obviously going to depend on the pattern of the disease and specific risks at that time," he said. "That’s one of the difficulties, this thing is changing daily. And guidance from health authorities is changing daily based on the changing circumstances. I mean if we think of bringing people back together, we’d want to have some confidence that the players and the staff themselves are healthy, some confidence the players are not infectious at that time, and that bringing them back together even in small groups would not increase the risk of contracting or transmitting the coronavirus.

“And then we’d have to place that in the context of the larger society and the fact that we have people in 31 different market cities. And they’re likely to differ one city to the next.’’

The NHL extended its self-quarantine directive to players through April 4, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said on the same call Wednesday. The league initially instructed them to do so through March 27. The NHL has also asked its clubs for August arena dates, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie.

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The NHL has postponed three key offseason events, with the draft, scouting combine, and awards show pushed back due to coronavirus concerns, the league announced Wednesday.

The 2020 draft was slated for June 26-27 in Montreal, with Quebec native Alexis Lafreniere the projected top pick.

The scouting combine was to take place June 1-6 in Buffalo, and Las Vegas was set to host the annual awards show for the 11th consecutive year on June 18.

New dates for the events are yet to be determined, but the release states "the location, timing, and format of the 2020 NHL Draft (and draft lottery) will be announced when details are finalized."

The NHL shut down all operations on March 12, and the league is still in the process of determining its next steps.

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Hockey manufacturer Bauer is pivoting from on-ice equipment to producing face shields for medical workers during the COVID-19 crisis.

Bauer hopes to ship out the shields to hospitals throughout Canada as early as next week, CEO Ed Kinnaly told ESPN's Emily Kaplan. By Wednesday morning, Bauer's facility in Quebec had taken orders for 100,000 units, and the company is looking to expand sales to the United States as well.

"In the U.S., honestly, the word is not out yet," Kinnaly said. "We've been doing outreach to various medical entities."

"We're also going to use our social channels to basically let the medical community know that we have the ability to produce these," he added.

The project is helping Bauer keep a portion of its workers employed during the pandemic. The face shields will be shipped on a first-come, first-served basis.

"Frankly I wish we could do more," Kinnaly said. "Any way we can help, we're going to try."

Bauer is one of the most popular hockey manufacturers in the world. The company's list of sponsored NHL players includes Patrick Kane, Jack Eichel, Henrik Lundqvist, and Nikita Kucherov.

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On Dec. 10, David Pastrnak was atop the NHL leaderboard with 25 goals. He was on an unfathomable scoring pace and appeared untouchable in the Rocket Richard race.

Of course, that pace was unsustainable. We dove into the reasons why he wasn't worth backing at the time at 5-2, and who was most likely to catch him.

Let's take a look at how we did.

David Pastrnak (5-2)

At the time, Pastrnak had 12 power-play goals thanks to a 34.2% shooting percentage with the man advantage, which was double his 18% average from the previous three seasons. He was also aided by an unsustainable 16.7% shooting percentage at five-on-five. We noted that "it's too much to expect him to continue this rate of production," and that the likely regression would open the door for those chasing him.

Pastrnak's pace predictably slowed. After scoring 25 goals through his first 27 games, he managed 23 tallies over the next 43 contests. When the season was suspended, his five-on-five shooting percentage had dropped to 13.8%, and his power-play shooting percentage experienced an even bigger dip, dropping to 25.3%. The lead he had built on Alex Ovechkin had evaporated, while Auston Matthews had pulled to within one.

Connor McDavid (7-2)

McDavid missed seven games due to injury, effectively knocking him out of the Rocket Richard race. Of course, that's somewhat of a cop-out, as his scoring rates also decreased.

The biggest culprit to McDavid's decreasing goal rate was a downtick in power-play production. He had eight power-play goals through the first 25 games, one shy of his career best of nine. When the season was officially suspended, McDavid was sitting at 11 goals with the man advantage, having managed just three through his next 39 games. That's not going to cut it.

Alex Ovechkin (7-2)

On Dec. 10, Ovechkin was Pastrnak's closest competitor with 21 goals to the Boston Bruins sniper's 25. It didn't take a genius to predict Ovechkin would be near, or at, the top of the NHL goal leaderboard at the end of the season, with the Washington Capitals captain having won the award in six of the past seven seasons.

Ovi was on pace for 54 goals and, as we pointed out, just about all of his underlying numbers were on par with his career averages, with the exception of his five-on-five shooting percentage, which was a bit lower than his average from the previous three seasons. We concluded that it was realistic to expect his scoring pace to continue and for him to finish right around 54 goals, if not a tad higher, should his shooting percentage experience some positive regression.

Ovechkin was on pace for 57 goals when the season was suspended.

Auston Matthews (7-1)

When we checked in on the race in December, Matthews was trailing Pastrnak by seven goals, but we really liked his value at 7-1.

As per his team's direction, Matthews was shooting a lot more on the power play, but his shooting percentage with the man advantage was 3% below his career average of 18.4%. We noted that with some positive regression in that area, the Toronto Maple Leafs sniper could be in for a monster second half of the season, and given the Leafs' uptick in power-play production under Sheldon Keefe, it was likely to happen.

While Matthews' power-play production remained the same over the next three months - recording five power-play goals through the first 31 games and six through the next 39 - his five-on-five production catapulted to lofty heights. His even-strength goals per game jumped from 0.42 to 0.59 as he closed the gap on Pastrnak, but he didn't do so with an elevated shooting percentage. He simply shot the puck more. His 214 shots (3.1 per game) were a lot more than the 2.8 and 2.5 per game he managed in his previous two seasons.

Let that be a lesson to all the kids out there. Shoot the puck and good things will happen.

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.

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Delaware North, the company that owns and operates Boston's TD Garden, will be laying off several dozen full-time Bruins and arena employees and indefinitely reducing the pay of many others, the organization announced Wednesday.

Effective April 1, 68 full-time salaried associates will be placed on temporary leave with one week of paid leave and eight weeks of full benefits coverage. As of the same date, 82 other full-time salaried associates will receive indefinite salary reductions.

The changes are due to the "unprecedented impact" of the coronavirus pandemic on the organization's operations, Deleware North said in a statement.

"As relayed to our associates today, none of these decisions were reached without difficult and painful deliberations," read the company's statement. "These measures are intended to be temporary with associate employment and compensation returning once our business resumes to its normal state from this unprecedented stoppage."

The Bruins were the last NHL team to announce a plan to compensate their arena workers with the rest of the 2019-20 season in limbo.

The owners of the New Jersey Devils announced Monday they were planning to ask full-time employees to accept pay reductions and work four-day weeks. They backtracked and apologized Tuesday, scrapping the idea in the wake of public backlash.

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With the NHL throwing around myriad options regarding a return to action this season, teams are starting to get really creative.

At least one NHL club has submitted a proposal featuring a tournament in which lottery teams would play for the first overall pick of the draft, according to The Athletic's Craig Custance.

The idea may seem radical, and arguably unfair to teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, and other bottom-dwelling clubs. But Custance suggests the tournament could work if its format left room to increase those teams' odds of winning.

"Without knowing the exact details of the proposal, there would have to be some assurances for the teams at the bottom of the standings that their odds of winning a lottery tournament resemble their odds of winning the lottery drawing now," Custance wrote.

"That would mean home games for Ottawa and Detroit, with a fairly easy path to the championship. And likewise, a bubble team would have to go on an all-time run of games to win the lottery."

The proposal could allow all teams to continue playing if the season were to resume, rather than limiting the action to teams that entered the hiatus in playoff spots, Custance notes. It could also prompt fans to tune back in were it to take place over the summer months.

"Radical times call for radical measures," one NHL source told Custance.

With the NHL on an indefinite hiatus and the status of the 2019-20 season uncertain, commissioner Gary Bettman has confirmed all options are being considered.

"In terms of where we go from here, we're modeling all sorts of options and everything is on the table," Bettman said, according to The Hockey News. "But we're going to have to be flexible and react to things that are beyond our control."

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