Dustin Byfuglien is officially a free agent.

The Winnipeg Jets and the veteran defenseman have resolved their dispute by terminating his contract effective immediately, the NHL and NHLPA announced Friday.

Byfuglien filed a grievance through the players' association after the Jets suspended him in September for failing to report to training camp.

The 35-year-old's contract would have expired following the 2020-21 season and would have paid him a base salary of $6 million during that campaign, according to CapFriendly. The deal carried a $7.6-million cap hit.

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Former Montreal Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov announced his retirement from professional hockey Thursday, the team announced.

Montreal selected Markov in the sixth round of the 1998 draft, and he went on to spend his entire NHL career with the club. The 41-year-old played his last three seasons in the KHL after his contract with the Canadiens expired at the conclusion of the 2016-17 campaign.

Over 16 seasons in Montreal, Markov racked up 119 goals and 453 assists in 990 games. He ranks second in franchise history among defensemen in games played and points, trailing Larry Robinson in both categories.

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Find out the latest on COVID-19's impact on the sports world and when sports are returning by subscribing to Breaking News push notifications in the Sports and COVID-19 section.

Unites States President Donald Trump has begun to lay out a potential road map for the post-coronavirus return of professional sports.

Trump expects that whenever sports leagues do return, they'll have to do so in empty facilities.

"Many of them are gonna be starting without the fans, so it'll be made for television. The good old days, made for television," Trump said, according to Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times. "And it'll go that way, and then the fans will start coming in, maybe they'll be separated by two seats. And then ultimately, we want to have packed arenas.

"When the virus is gone, we're going to have packed arenas, and we're gonna be back to enjoying sports the way they're supposed to be. ... So at a certain point in time, when the virus is gone, we're gonna be back to normal."

His remarks come one day after Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the chief medical experts on the administration's coronavirus task force, made similar comments about sports returning without fans.

The president also confirmed he sought the advice of the commissioners of "almost every sport" Wednesday, according to Aaron Rupar of Vox. Earlier this week, Trump announced he reached out to the commissioners of the four major sports leagues, as well as those of MLS, NASCAR, WWE, the WNBA, and the PGA Tour, among others.

Most pro sports leagues in North America are on hold due to the pandemic. At least one already has a plan to return, as the PGA announced Thursday that it will resume hosting golf tournaments without fans in June.

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Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was one of the league's top performers inside the crease this season, and while he's honored that his name is in Vezina Trophy talks, he says his focus remains on something else.

"It would be a great milestone and it would definitely be one of my goals achieved, but at the end of the day, what I truthfully want is the Stanley Cup and a chance to win it," Hellebuyck said, according to the Winnipeg Sun's Scott Billeck. "So anything that gets me closer to that, I would do for sure."

Hellebuyck had put together an impressive 31-21-5 record alongside a .922 save percentage and 2.57 goals-against average when the NHL hit the pause button March 12.

He helped keep the Jets competitive all season long, backstopping one of the worst defensive teams in hockey. He started the second-most games in the league (56), faced the most shots (1,796), and saw the most high danger shots (509).

The 26-year-old says his secrets to success were greater amounts of preparation and experience coming into the season.

"I think I came in with the right mindset," Hellebuyck said. "I was ready to prove myself. I had another year under my belt, so I had a little more experience. Not only that, I had this new chest pad that I finally had figured out. It took all training camp to really fine-tune some things. Once I finally had my trigger, which I'm going to keep as a secret for me, once I had that figured out, things were falling into place."

The Jets sat in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference when play was halted.

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Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar says the three players on his team who tested positive for COVID-19 have all seemingly recovered.

"All of our guys are doing well," Bednar said, according to NHL.com's Tracey Myers. "Some of them were even doing well before they had their test results. As far as I know, they're all doing good and are back with their families and continuing to follow the guidelines given to us.

"Those guys were lucky that there wasn't anything too serious with their symptoms and they were able to come through it without any major complications."

The league paused games March 12 due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak. The first positive diagnosis in the Avalanche organization occurred March 26.

Eight NHL players have tested positive for the coronavirus, with three on the Avs and five on the Ottawa Senators. Bednar admitted he wasn't shocked when learning of the positive diagnoses within his organization.

"(Given) what's going on and the number of people who are testing positive, I'm sure we all know people who have tested positive or read about people that we know who tested positive, so I can't say that surprised me," he said.

Bednar also confirmed not every Avalanche player has been tested, only those who have shown symptoms.

"Our guys, we're giving them the information, and if they're not feeling well, we relay that information to our medical staff. In turn, they'll get tested and away we go," he said. "It's the same as the rest of the country and the world; not everyone is getting tested."

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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is in contact with the Canadian government and has made "a plan to connect directly" with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss potential testing for the coronavirus, TSN's Darren Dreger reported on Thursday's edition of "Insider Trading."

"There's a number of developing options that could be available, promoting some optimism at least within the National Hockey League," Dreger said.

The league extended its self-quarantine period for players and staff for a third time Tuesday, pushing the recommendation through April 30.

Bettman continues to explore all options for completing the season, which was suspended March 12. Potential alternatives include playing games without spectators as well as hosting contests at neutral locations.

Some players around the league, including Los Angeles Kings star Drew Doughty, are not as optimistic about the season resuming.

Eight players - five on the Ottawa Senators and three on the Colorado Avalanche - have tested positive for the virus. All have since recovered.

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Welcome to Puck Pursuit, an interview-style podcast hosted by John Matisz, theScore's national hockey writer.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Kyle Raftis, general manager of the OHL's Soo Greyhounds, joins the show to discuss a variety of topics, including:

• Junior hockey perspective on the COVID-19 crisis
• The art of recruiting Americans to northern Ontario
• Lessons from six seasons as an OHL GM
• Taking over for Kyle Dubas, and working with Sheldon Keefe
• Developing future NHLers, such as Morgan Frost (Flyers), Rasmus Sandin (Maple Leafs), Barrett Hayton (Coyotes), Conor Timmins (Avalanche)

... and much more!

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