Also keep in mind that the longer the NHL goes without fans the worse it's going to be. NHL teams are mostly gate-driven and all of a sudden even if a team has cap room their ownership may not even let them take on further salary if they don't know there will be 50%+ fans in their buildings in early 2021 to offset some guaranteed losses.
This will ultimately become critical.
I don't see how any team survives even a truncated 50-game season with restricted numbers of 500+ in attendance. I could be wrong. The NHL may be strong enough in other avenues to hold some type of season basically without people in attendance, but that is only imaginable in another temporary, special-case scenario.
***
I can say that the German DEL is currently a no-go for this very reason. Everything is in a state of limbo and there's no telling when or if a season will take place. The government has set a limit to how many people are allowed to attend a game and it's a number so small that the DEL teams can't even attempt to make things happen. There's just not enough income from sponsors and nothing like a "league-supporting" television contract that could keep the teams running for the time being.
The minor leagues are set to begin play at the beginning of November, also with regulated attendance, but still scheduled to get enough proceeds from the gates to be able to stay afloat, with a break in action being possible at any point. As you can imagine, a handful of DEL players are either being loaned to the lower league teams or have just downright decided to sign with one for this season.
But to be clear, Germany is currently on path to its next shutdown, so even the minor leagues may be put on hold soon too.