Pittsburgh Penguins: The impact of the coronavirus

The coronavirus has caused the NHL to pause their season. How will this affect the Pittsburgh Penguins? More than you might think.

These past 24 hours have been a whirlwind. The coronavirus is a very serious concern and is rapidly expanding across the world. This is a global health crisis. Take every precaution necessary, wash your hands, and listen to the advice that medical professionals are giving is. Sports are obviously a secondary concern with the rapid expansion of the coronavirus. The NBA and NHL have suspended their seasons, which means the Pittsburgh Penguins season is on hold.

MLB spring training is expected to follow suit. 13 NCAA basketball tournaments have been canceled. These are not overreactions. These are the correct decisions and the data reflects that. It is much better to be proactive than reactive in every aspect of this.

Here is the official release from the NHL.

Pittsburgh native and Dallas Mavericks owner announced last night that the Mavericks are implementing a plan to assist Mavericks employees during this layoff. This is a very classy move and hopefully, more teams follow suit.

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Cuban also told Rachel Nichols of ESPN that he could see NBA games from the 2019-20 season going into August of this year.

Frank Seravalli of TSN reported that the NHL is asking teams to send their arena availabilities through the end of July. PPG Paints Arena is the home of the Penguins. Here is a look at some of their scheduled events (aside from NHL games) through July 31:

• March 16th: WWE Raw Live
• March 27/28/29: Trolls Live
• April 24th: Lit AF Tour
• May 16th: Joe Rogan
• June 20th: Ringo Starr
• July 10th: Janet Jackson
• July 14th: Harry Styles

If you plan on attending any of these events, please remain aware of any announcements or changes.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that all options for the NHL are on the table. A 76 game regular season, 22 team postseason, and shorter playoff rounds appear to be amongst the options being discussed. Friedman also confirmed that there are no team practices and players have been told to go home. According to Front Office Sports, the league plans to re-evaluate in two weeks.

In an attempt to lighten the mood a bit, former Penguins forward Beau Bennett’s sense of humor was on full display.

If and when the 2019-20 NHL season returns and extends into the summer, that would likely mean that Jake Guentzel would be healthy for a potential postseason run. That would obviously be great news for the Penguins.

There are a lot of unknowns here, but that is worth mentioning. There are much bigger issues at play here than sports and our personal entertainment, and we need to realize that. The sooner that we realize the severity of this virus and take necessary actions, the sooner we can go back to living our normal lives again.

For the foreseeable future, we need to stay home, stay clean, and listen to the advice of medical professionals. For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website or the website for your state’s Department of Health.