The only sure thing in sports these days, it seems, is uncertainty.
No one knows whether winter leagues like the NHL and NBA will resume their 2019-20 seasons, or when spring/summer operations like Major League Baseball will be able to get underway.
If ever.
And it's not just games that are affected by pro sports, like most aspects of society, being placed on hold a month or so ago.
The NFL already has dropped its usual draft format -- the event was supposed to play out in Las Vegas April 23-25 -- and replaced it with a video set-up that will include cameras in the homes of all general managers and coaches, perhaps to assure that social-distancing guidelines are being observed.
And while the NHL hasn't revealed the details for how its 2020 draft will be staged, it has confirmed that it will not take place at the Bell Centre in Montreal June 26-27, as was planned before the coronavirus pandemic.
Jim Rutherford, though expects that the NHL will proceed much the way its football counterpart has, relying on video to carry out the prospect-selection process.
"I don't think we'd have a choice in that one," he said recently. "It looks like that's what the other leagues are doing. Not knowing what the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is going to say and where we're going to be here in a couple of months, I would suspect that until we get more therapeutic drugs and a vaccine that we're not going to be in normal times."
At a typical draft, members of management, coaches and scouting staffs convene in the city where the draft is conducted. And while that won't happen this year, Rutherford doesn't believe that disruption of the draft routine will cause any significant problems, before or during the proceedings.
"We would set up teleconferencing and everything within our organization, and we'd be able to do the draft," he said.
Rutherford has deep roots in the game -- he was an NHL goaltender for parts of 13 seasons before launching a second career in the front office -- and a true respect for its traditions, but seems confident that altering the time-tested format of the draft will not have an impact on its primary purpose: To replenish and deepen the pool of prospects for teams throughout the league.
"I feel bad for the host team, Montreal," Rutherford said. "I feel bad for the young men who are going to get drafted and their families, because it's such a big event (in their lives). But at the end of the day, you'll get the same result. Teams are going to end up picking their players."
The Penguins are scheduled to have four selections in the 2020 draft -- one each in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth rounds.
