Trump meets with Bettman, plans the return of NHL hockey

This just in courtesy of NHL insider Darren Dreger of TSN, American president Donald Trump conducted a phone meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and other professional sports executives today with the goal of reaching a consensus on the resumption of the season.

Check it out:

President Trump’s call today with several sports leaders, including NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is believed to have focused in number of issues/possibilities. 1) restarting with no fans. 2) availability of testing. 3) travel concerns. 1/2
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) April 15, 2020

Obviously, everyone agreed they want to bring sports back as soon as possible and as soon as it’s safe to do so. No timelines , yet. https://t.co/rqVp4SSiU8
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) April 15, 2020

Bettman, Silver, Manfred and Goodell all on the call today as were owners Mark Cuban, Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones. https://t.co/1MSnzmlweT
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) April 15, 2020

In other words... no update.

Thank, Gary. Thanks, Donald.

To be completely honest though, what can these commissioners even do? They're at the mercy of not only the COVID-19 virus, but also the social distancing measures put in place both regionally and nationally in the United States and Canada. I'm no Gary Bettman supporter, but I think it's fair to say that he's done a good job of managing the league through this pandemic. The real test will be how well can Bettman and the rest of the NHL brass execute on a condensed playoff format once they're given the green light. When that happens though is anyone's guess.

Sit tight, hockey fans.