The Toronto Maple Leafs and pending unrestricted free agent forward Kyle Clifford are mutually interested in a contract extension.

“Kyle has really liked it and enjoyed it so far,” Clifford’s agent, Todd Reynolds, told the Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan of his client's time with the Leafs. “It’s something we would be interested in and it’s something that the Leafs are interested in.”

Talks about a new deal aren't imminent, as the NHL has plenty to figure out during its coronavirus-induced break that began March 12.

Clifford was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings along with goaltender Jack Campbell in exchange for Trevor Moore and a pair of draft picks. Clifford played 16 contests with the Maple Leafs before the season was postponed, registering three points while providing a physical element the team lacked before he arrived.

The 29-year-old is in the final season of a five-year pact that pays him $1.6 million annually. Clifford is one of four pending UFAs on the Leafs' books, along with Jason Spezza, Tyson Barrie, and Cody Ceci.

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North Vancouver native Connor Bedard has been granted exceptional status to play in the WHL next season as a 15-year-old, the league announced Tuesday.

"BC Hockey would like to congratulate Connor on being announced as the first player from Western Canada to be granted exceptional status in the CHL and WHL," said BC hockey chief executive officer Barry Petrachenko. "Throughout the evaluation process, Connor has displayed the tremendous potential he has both mentally and physically to be able to be granted exceptional status."

Bedard is the first player to earn exceptional status in the WHL. Six other players in CHL history have been given the unique distinction: Connor McDavid, John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, Sean Day, and Shane Wright in the OHL, and Joe Veleno in the QMJHL.

Bedard is a forward listed at 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds. He played for West Vancouver Academy’s U18 team in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League (CSSHL) this past season, notching 43 goals and 41 assists in 36 games.

The WHL Bantam Draft is set for April 22.

The CHL recently shut down all three of its leagues for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs due to coronavirus concerns.

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While the NHL hasn't established a timetable for its eventual return, the league is looking at playing games late into the summer.

"Earlier (Tuesday), the National Hockey League did request from each of its 31 member clubs to provide available home dates for the month of August," TSN's Bob McKenzie reported on the latest edition of "Insider Trading."

If the NHL resumes in July or August, the players' contracts would need to be extended, as their deals expire June 30 with the new league year starting July 1, McKenzie adds. That would also affect players on work visas.

After the NHL paused its 2019-20 season amid the COVID-19 outbreak on March 12, the league asked its teams to work with their respective arenas to find potential home dates in July, according to the New York Post's Brett Cyrgalis.

On Tuesday, the NHL reportedly asked players and staff to self-quarantine through April 6, extending its initial directive by 10 days.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said recently that while the possibilities for the rest of the 2019-20 season are "almost endless," the league wants to avoid scenarios that prevent it from holding a full 2020-21 campaign.

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The NHL has instructed its players and team staff to extend their ongoing self-isolation by 10 days due to the spread of the coronavirus, reports Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.

The decision was relayed to general managers and league officials in a conference call on Tuesday, Johnston adds.

On March 16, the NHL permitted players to fly home if they self-quarantined through March 27. The new protocol will take the quarantine period to at least April 6.

The league shut down operations on March 12 and has been weighing several options for potentially resuming play. At this point, a priority for the league is ensuring the 2020-21 schedule isn't affected by playing out the remainder of the current season.

Meanwhile, two members of the Ottawa Senators are the only NHL players who've been known to test positive for the virus.

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The owners of the New Jersey Devils are backtracking after indicating they would temporarily reduce full-time employees' pay amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"Our commitment has been to do our best to keep all of our employees working through this very difficult situation," Devils co-owner Josh Harris said in a statement Tuesday. "As part of an effort to do that we asked salaried employees to take a temporary 20% pay cut while preserving everyone's full benefits - and keeping our 1,500 hourly workers paid throughout the regular season.

"After listening to our staff and players, it's clear that was the wrong decision," Harris continued. "We have reversed it and will be paying these employees their full salaries. This is an extraordinary time in our world - unlike any most of us have ever lived through before - and ordinary business decisions are not enough to meet the moment. To our staff and fans, I apologize for getting this wrong."

Harris and David Blitzer oversee the NHL club as well as the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. On Monday night, Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment CEO Scott O'Neil confirmed a report from the New York Times' Marc Stein stating the owners were asking full-timers working for both organizations to trim their pay and move to a four-day workweek.

The salary reductions were reportedly aimed at employees making more than $50,000. The cuts would have been implemented from April 15 through the end of June, according to Stein.

Harris issued the same apology through the 76ers on Tuesday.

Earlier Tuesday, ESPN's Emily Kapan reported the NHL is temporarily cutting league office employees' salaries by 25% in hopes of avoiding any layoffs.

The Devils were the first NHL team to make a public commitment toward compensating hourly workers after the NHL paused its season in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.

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New Jersey Devils veteran Kyle Palmieri is optimistic about his team's future thanks to a handful of young, dynamic players.

"I think there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic," Palmieri said, according to NJ Advance Media's Randy Miller. "We have guys that haven’t even arrived in Jersey professionally yet that show a lot of promise."

After finding themselves near the bottom of the standings this season, the Devils began to look toward the future. After parting ways with Taylor Hall, Andy Greene, Wayne Simmonds, and Blake Coleman this season, the Devils find themselves with a pool of prospects and draft picks.

The list of prospects in the Devils' system with NHL potential is lengthy. It includes defensemen Ty Smith, Kevin Bahl, and Daniil Misyul. It also includes newly acquired winger Nolan Foote, who the Devils pried away from the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Coleman trade.

Palmieri is also aware of the potential of last year's No. 1 overall pick Jack Hughes, who was slotted into the lineup all season long.

"You look at the little flashes and the skill and the way he thinks and sees the game, and you can definitely see as he matures and gets used to the NHL level that he’s going to just keep getting better and better by the day," Palmieri said.

Hughes put together an underwhelming rookie campaign where he mustered up seven goals and 21 points in 61 games. Despite the lack of scoring, the 18-year-old showed immense potential as a future star in the league.

Palmieri added: "We're building and we're young, and guys are going to keep getting better year by year."

The 29-year-old forward has been a part of the Devils since the 2015-16 season. He's scored at least 24 goals in every campaign in New Jersey and is leading the Devils this season with 25 goals in 65 games. He is set to hit free agency at the end of the 2020-21 season.

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Find line reports, best bets, and subscribe to push notifications in the Betting News section.

Let's dive into our preseason article pointing out the best bets to make/miss the playoffs.

We can't break these down by the good and bad, as all four looked likely to come down to the final week of the season, so we are going pick by pick.

The picks

Winnipeg Jets: No playoffs (+150)

A run of four successive wins just before the season got suspended thrust the Jets back into the playoff mix, though they had the disadvantage of playing one more game than all the teams around them. If the season did end up being played out, I think the Jets would have ended up missing the playoffs.

My criticism of the team's depth down the middle turned out to be justified, as was my concern about their thin defensive corps, but was I ever wrong about Connor Hellebuyck. "Hellebuyck took a step back and resembled the goalie he was in 2017 more than he did the Vezina nominee we saw in 2018. Now, In three years as a starter, he's been average twice. Which season sounds like the outlier here?"

His 2018 season sure doesn't seem like an outlier now. He's been the best player on this team for stretches this season and without his exploits, the Jets would have already been well out of the playoff picture.

Carolina Hurricanes: Yes playoffs (-160)

Admittedly this would have turned out to be closer than I originally expected, but the Hurricanes were absolutely making the playoffs. After loading up at the deadline, Carolina was looking likelier to make a deep run than they were to miss out on the postseason altogether. Looking at the standings, the Hurricanes were an overwhelming favorite to claim the top wild-card spot.

"Carolina has an elite group of young forwards and should be a lock to make the playoffs this year. If sophomore Andrei Svechnikov takes the leap toward becoming the elite scorer he was expected to be when he was drafted, this team could be looking at a division title."

Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho both made the jump, but a lack of depth scoring is what held this team back. A lot more was expected out of Ryan Dzingel and Nino Niederreiter. I was also infatuated with the Canes' defensive depth, but injuries to Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce hurt their cause.

Calgary Flames: No playoffs (+180)

This prediction was probably the most questionable. With 79 points, the Flames were holding down third in the Pacific Division, but the Vancouver Canucks were just a point back with a game in hand. Finishing ahead of the Canucks was their best chance to make the playoffs, because their odds likely weren't great in a muddled wild-card race with the Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild each holding games in hand.

My main concern surrounded Calgary coming off a season in which almost all its top players set career highs in points. I expected regression, and regression I got. None of Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, or Sean Monahan produced anywhere close to their 2018-19 totals and the Flames were in a desperate battle for a playoff spot because of it.

New York Rangers: No playoffs (-150)

Kudos to the Rangers for making this closer than I expected it to be. They were left for dead a month-and-a-half ago before going scorched earth on the rest of the league to pull into the wild-card race. The odds were still stacked against them, but they certainly weren't out of it.

My biggest issue with the Rangers was how all the hype surrounding them following a busy offseason had people overlooking the lack of depth on their roster. Depth scoring has proven to be a big issue for them, but the reason they're still in the mix is because Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad have quite remarkably been able to do it all on their own. At least I look good for saying "Zibanejad is excellent."

Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.

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With most sports on an indefinite hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teams and athletes are promoting social distancing. Clubs are temporarily updating their logos to reflect the practice, and athletes are offering fans their advice and emphasizing the importance of taking proper measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Let's take a look at what has been done so far.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes' alternate logo is a hurricane warning flag, with the shape of North Carolina formed in the space in between the two flags.

The Hurricanes shared an altered version of the logo Tuesday.

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox updated their historic logo of two overlapping red socks.

Inter Miami CF

David Beckham's MLS club made its debut March 1 and has now introduced a subtle change to its crest. The original logo has two white herons with two of their legs intertwined.

The club's new temporary logo moves the herons to either side of the shield so that they are not touching.

Nike

Though the logo remains the same, the message Nike is sending resonates with sports fans around the world. Many Nike athletes, including Tiger Woods and Cristiano Ronaldo, shared this message on their social media platforms.

Stephen Curry

Nearly 10 days ago, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry posted a video urging fans to flatten the curve by practicing proper hygiene and social distancing.

Roberto Luongo

Normally known for his lighthearted humor, former Florida Panthers netminder Roberto Luongo got serious with his plea for people to stay home, self-isolate as much as possible, and take social distancing seriously.

Chris Paul

Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul reminded everyone that it's important to stay home and urged people to act selflessly. He also commended healthcare workers for their efforts during this time and expressed his appreciation for teachers.

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The NHL is temporarily cutting the salaries of league office employees by 25% due to the coronavirus pandemic that's put the 2019-20 season on pause, according to ESPN's Emily Kaplan.

The league is hoping the move will allow it to avoid layoffs, Kaplan's sources said.

The Montreal Canadiens, meanwhile, are proceeding with temporary layoffs. Groupe CH, which owns the Canadiens, announced Tuesday that it will temporarily lay off 60% of the organization's employees effective March 30. Ownership also created a $6-million fund to "enhance" affected workers' employment insurance benefits for eight weeks.

The NHL officially suspended play March 12 due to the growing threat of the COVID-19 virus.

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