A lot of people haven't experienced anything quite like what they have since the NHL slipped into suspended animation a week ago.
Eddie Olczyk has.
And the parallels are not pleasant.
Olczyk, the former Penguins forward, broadcaster and coach, generally is pretty busy at this time of year, splitting his time as a TV analyst between NBC and his hometown Blackhawks in Chicago.
That's not the case now, though, with the league shut down because of coronavirus. And it certainly wasn't for much of the 2017-18 NHL season, when Olczyk's focus was not on game preparation and travel schedules and the other details of his work, but on survival.
He was being treated for Stage 3 colon cancer and, between chemotherapy sessions and other treatments, he had a lot of time to do nothing but sit and think.
Just as he has lately.
Sure, his circumstances are a bit different these days -- there is, for example, a twice-weekly radio gig that occupies him for a while -- but Olczyk said there also are some eery similarities.
"This is taking me back to two years ago, when I was battling my colon cancer," he said. "Just a lot of quiet time. The last time I had this much quiet time ... it took me back to a place where I was obviously very scared and not knowing what was going to happen. You have enough quiet time to last you a lifetime.
"Obviously, I'm in a much better place now than I was two years ago, but a lot of the day-to-day things remind me of what I went through two years ago. As (former broadcast partner Mike Lange) would say, 'I've seen this fish before.' I've seen this movie. Obviously, in a different light. You just go day-to-day and, in the big picture, that's what I always remind myself."
How many days will pass before Olczyk offers his insights on another broadcast is impossible to predict -- could be dozens, could be hundreds -- but with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that gatherings of more than 50 people be discouraged for at least eight weeks, he figures it won't happen anytime soon.
That doesn't mean he's giving up on at least the Stanley Cup playoffs being salvaged, albeit in a form that's still to be determined. And in a timeframe that probably won't be set for quite a while.
"I've always been optimistic and I know we are going to get through this, as a society," he said. "It's going to take some time. Is it realistic to have hockey in July and August? Yeah, sure. I guess it is.
"Life is not fair. There are a lot of hurdles and obstacles, but look, the health of everybody is first and foremost and the decision to be made about whether we're playing or not will be made much higher, on the highest totem pole we have in the country.
"I'm hoping against hope. Right now, we just have to go day-to-day, and wait for the people who know to give us the okay to go back to doing what we love to do and give people an outlet, a release."
Ideally, he said, those people who choose to would be able to attend playoff games, although he didn't dismiss the idea of playing in empty arenas if that was the only way the postseason could be staged.
Whether such a set-up would be financially viable is far from certain -- NHL teams rely heavily on gate receipts, because broadcast rights revenues are fairly modest, compared to other major sports -- but Olczyk said the potential pluses would outweigh the negatives.
"That would mean the games are on TV, which would give people the entertainment opportunity," he said. "Ideally, we'd love the fans to be there and to have people working in the buildings and everybody taking part in it. ... (But) I would rather see us playing games with no fans than having no games at all."
Olczyk said, "I'm sure the league has 100 different scenarios," and that covers everything from whether any regular-season games that were postponed are made up to how many teams qualify for the playoffs to the number of games scheduled during each round.
"If you do get the opportunity -- and let's hope that we get an opportunity to see playoff hockey -- how do you go about that?" he said "Is it going to be a normal playoff? Are you going to put more teams in there? Are you going to allow a play-in? It's going to be different, but that's the world we live in right now."
Regardless of the format -- Olczyk even mentioned an NCAA basketball-style concept in which a field of 16 would be reduced to two in a series of single-elimination games before the survivors competed in a best-of-seven for the Cup -- the lengthy delay between when games were suspended March 12 and when they will resume makes predicting how the postseason would unfold will be even more tricky than usual.
"Anybody could win," he said. "If we go for an extended period of time (without games), nothing would surprise me. Really. This is an absolutely uncharted area. However they decide who gets into the playoffs, you could have a field day.
"Everybody's on the same playing field. Everybody's been sitting there dormant for 60 days, or whatever. It's going to be very unpredictable. It should be a lot of fun."
Assuming, of course, there is any hockey played before next season.
At least for now, Olczyk seems to think there will be, if only because he doesn't care to dwell on the alternative.
"Do I believe we'll be back?" he said. "Yeah, I do. But that's maybe just me wishing and hoping (because) that means we're in a much better place as a country than we are right now."
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