Snapshots: Return Plans, Murray, Nilsson

In recent days, the NHL had briefly shifted their focus from restarting in centralized hubs towards playing in club cities, reports Larry Brooks of the New York Post.  That would have assuaged some concerns from players over the potential from being away for their families for an extended period of time.  However, Brooks notes that the league has quickly pivoted away from that to focus exclusively on the four-city plan.  It remains to be seen if the regular season will be concluded or if they will jump to the playoffs if they are indeed able to get things back underway.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

• To say that Blue Jackets defenseman Ryan Murray has been injury-plagued throughout his career would be an understatement. He has only played more than 66 games just once and multiple ailments have limited him to just 27 games this season.  The blueliner admitted to John Matisz of The Score that he wondered if he’d be forced to hang up his skates early as a result of everything but after consulting with doctors, there has been no reason to seriously consider that.  The 26-year-old has one more year left on his deal with a $4.6MM price tag and will be eligible for unrestricted free agency in the 2021 offseason.
• Senators goaltender Anders Nilsson should be able to return if regular season play resumes, goalie coach Pierre Groulx told Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. He was sidelined by a concussion back in December and only passed his baseline testing last month.  However, with Ottawa well out of contention and a likely desire to give Marcus Hogberg as much playing time to evaluate him for a full-time spot for 2020-21, they will likely limit Nilsson’s action to only a handful of games at most.