During a video call arranged by the NHL on Thursday, they expressed sympathy for anyone impacted by the virus and gratitude for those attempting to keep everyone healthy.
"I know a lot of people that work in hospitals, our team doctors are all around there; they're working hard and it's such a concentrated area, it's been hit pretty hard," Staal, a defenseman for the New York Rangers, said from his home in Greenwich, Connecticut. "Definitely some concerns and thoughts with all of our health care professionals that are doing the job now.
"It's got to be hard, but you have to do what you have to do, and we've got some pretty amazing people from our team that work in hospitals in the city. Hopefully they can contain this thing as best as possible."
Lee, captain of the New York Islanders, remains in his Long Island apartment with wife, Grace, and daughter Ruby, who was born March 2. He said he gets most of his exercise by walking his dogs, and he recently purchased a Peloton.
"We're at the heart of a lot of this right now in the United States," Lee said. "I've been extremely impressed with all the people, the nurses, the doctors, the volunteers in the communities, everyone kind of coming together. Here in New York, everyone's buying in. They're taking this extremely seriously, they're doing what they can, supporting small businesses down the street, ordering takeout and trying to do your best just to kind of keep things going and keeping a level of normalcy.
"It's extremely serious. You have friends and family in the area and whatnot, and you hear stories of them coming down with it or someone at school. It's extremely prevalent around here, so you just want to give as much support you can to anyone you can. This quarantine thing, we're all in it together. Whether it's staying in touch or FaceTiming or doing whatever, I think it really goes a long way. This is something no one's ever really dealt with before. We've all just got to figure it out together."
Subban said he remained in New Jersey for about a week and a half after the NHL paused its season March 12 because of concerns surrounding the coronavirus. The New Jersey Devils defenseman returned to his offseason home in Los Angeles, where he is with his fiancée, Lindsey Vonn.
"It's just tough, just being there and understanding that it's one of the hotbeds," Subban said. "I went from one hotbed to another, and it's just crazy to see. I do a lot of work in hospitals and stuff too, and it doesn't really hit you until you think about all the people that don't have what we have, don't have the support system that we built for ourselves and do our jobs and the resources that we have. It's just kind of crazy to be in the hotbed of things and see how people have handled it.
"You've got to give crazy props to the doctors and nurses and all the people that have put in crazy hours, that have those masks on, that are doing work all day. … I couldn't imagine having one of those on for a 14-, 15-, 16-hour shift. Shout out to all those people that are putting in the time and continuing to make us healthy and safe. It's just tough. It's just a tough time. It's crazy."
Staal said he hasn't been in New York since the NHL season paused, but he applauded the efforts of city residents who are abiding by requests for social distancing and he's hopeful there is an end to the pandemic sooner rather than later.
"Just seeing the images of empty streets and Times Square with like 30 people walking around, it's pretty surreal," he said. "Even for me just going to the grocery store, you can just tell everyone is on edge, trying to avoid each other, sanitizing carts and they have facemasks on. It's a pretty crazy time.
"That part of it for me, just walking around seeing everyone, how their reactions are to each other, trying to keep a distance, I think it's great as a community and a country to try to limit this thing. Hopefully we can get by it as quick as possible."
