While all leagues in the rest of the hockey world have closed and gone on vacation - most without the season being completed - the NHL still wants to play.
Although the corona crisis does not appear to be over in the foreseeable future.
-We want to be ready to drive as soon as we get green light and the green light may not be crystal clear. There may be places in our country where we can't play and others where we can.
"Most of it is about how much time we will have, because it will focus on next season as well, and of course the state of health in the country and for the country, which includes both the US and Canada," says Bettman.
The NHL was paused on March 12 and Bettman says he hopes to know more by the end of April.
It has come to light that the NHL may want to place matches in one and the same city or state. Bettman also says that the season can be extended all the way into July and August because NBC - which has television rights in the US - has run out of sports since moving the Olympics one year ahead.
There are no problems with having ice in the stadiums in the middle of summer.
-We have modern arenas and we play in places like Florida, Southern California, Arizona, Las Vegas and Dallas. We can make ice cream under any conditions because the arenas and our ice cream makers are so good, he says.