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As the NHL and the Players’ Association tried to figure out the details for what this “pause” in the season might look like in light of the coronavirus pandemic, commissioner Gary Bettman reinforced the uncertainty.

“Nobody knows how long the hiatus may be,” Bettman told the AP on Friday, one day after the league suspended operations indefinitely. “This isn’t an independent determination. We’re going to have to rely on others as to when it’s safe, which is why people can speculate, but nobody can predict with certainty.”

One thing that is clear is the league and its players want to continue this season at some point, and clubs have been told to work with their arenas to find dates for games, which could go into July. Of course health is the league’s first concern, but the NHL is predicated on gate receipts more than any of the other three major North American pro leagues, and the financial ramifications of canceling the rest of the season are huge.

Not only would the players not get paid and the teams not make money, but the huge drop in hockey-related revenue would drastically affect the salary cap next season.

That is why Bettman is open to any idea that might facilitate playing games at some point, even in empty arenas.

“I’m not ruling anything in and I’m not ruling anything out,” Bettman said. “This is still too fluid.”

A positive note is Bettman still had not received any information about a player or team employee testing positive for coronavirus — which doesn’t mean it might not come out soon.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if somebody isn’t feeling well and self-quarantining,” Bettman said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if somebody has been tested and is waiting for results.”

That was the biggest difference between the NHL and NBA, which suspended its season on Wednesday night after Jazz forward Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, followed by teammate Donovan Mitchell. The two leagues share a lot of arenas, so Bettman knew it only would be a matter of time before someone in or around the NHL got it, and then the league would have to stop.

“The last couple of weeks, we, like everybody else, have been monitoring what’s been going on, and we went from dealing with things on a day-to-day basis to an hour-by-hour basis, and then it was in minutes,” Bettman told NHL.com. “But [Wednesday] night, when the NBA had a positive test and they had to cancel a game at that moment, it was clear to me.And through all of our calculus, we knew that once a player tested positive, it would be a game changer.“I decided it was time to get ahead of it and not wait for one of our players to get tested, because in all likelihood, at some point in time, we weren’t going to get through the rest of the season without a player testing positive.”

So like the rest of the sporting world, Bettman put the NHL on “pause.” He was hesitant to use any word stronger than that, still holding out optimistic hope the Stanley Cup would be awarded at some point this summer. Bettman said the league wants players and staff to self-isolate at home.

“It’s going to evolve,” he said. “We’re looking at all contingencies, and when the circumstances are right that we can play, then we’ll look at what we can do.”

Players on injured reserve are permitted to receive treatment at team facilities, which otherwise are closed to the players, who will receive their final three paychecks. Players with families living outside a team’s home city may join them, but must notify clubs.

“My hope is that at some point we’ll get back to some normalcy, and that’s not just my hope for the NHL, and it’s not just my hope for all sports. It’s my hope for everything that’s going on.”

— Additional reporting by Larry Brooks