"We talk on how we're going to have meetings, the possibility of meetings to put the (draft) list together," MacLellan said. "How do we keep our guys engaged? With the combine being canceled, can we do some phone interviews? What can we do on the video side of it?"
Ultimately, if this season resumes, teams will have to gear up quickly to get ready for the playoffs. MacLellan said 14 Capitals players stayed in the Washington area during the pause while nine went back to their offseason homes, and that none of them have exhibited symptoms of the coronavirus or have been tested for it.
Capitals strength and conditioning coach Mark Nemish has stayed in contact with the players regularly to try to help them stay in shape in case the season resumes. There is expected to be a brief training camp, but everything else remains unknown about how the season would be restarted.
"We're trying to be prepared for anything that might come down the hopper if we get a chance to continue to play," MacLellan said. "Whether it's in June, July or August, we try to be as best prepared as we can for that. Other than that, we have conference calls with the League, the Board of Governors has conference calls with the League, I talk to (team president) Dick Patrick regularly.
"I think we're trying to be prepared as much as possible for any scenario that might come down the line for us going forward."
Although the Capitals (41-20-8) are in first place in the Metropolitan Division, they are 15-14-3 since Dec. 23 and were struggling to find their consistency before the season was paused. Those on-ice issues have been pushed to the backburner with the focus shifting toward staying healthy, but they will have to be corrected if the season resumes.
"I don't think we've been happy with the way they've played since probably the end of December," MacLellan said. "In my mind, there was a slight uptick near the end the last few games. But overall, I think there was a sense of frustration and a sense of we should be playing a lot better than we were the past period of time. … When we come back, I think we have issues that need to be addressed and were being addressed at the end."