Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Ryan McDonagh isn't particular on how the NHL should return to action if the season is able to resume. He's just hoping for a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup.

"If (the season) were to be cancelled, it would be a huge disappointment," McDonagh told the team's website. "For what our team has done this year and how we've set ourselves up and the additions that we've made, just where we were at the point in the season, only a handful of games left, trying to gear up for hopefully a long playoff run and a successful playoff run, you just hope and you pray there's some scenario out there where we can finish whether it's the regular season or the playoffs and we get a chance to go out there as a group and as this team and see what we can accomplish here. We were really excited about how our year was going. We added some great guys. I think we'd want to be able to see how far this team can go. That's the scenario I'm hoping for."

The 30-year-old was set to enter his third postseason with the Lightning this spring, having been acquired from the New York Rangers at the 2018 trade deadline. The Lightning lost to the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final in his first season with the team, but were eliminated in just four games by the Columbus Blue Jackets last year after winning the Presidents' Trophy.

The Lightning, who currently sit second in the Atlantic Division, brought in Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman ahead of this year's trade deadline and McDonagh said he believed the team was coming together before the season was paused on March 12. 

"Doesn't matter if we had to finish the regular season or jump right into the playoffs, we would make the best of it," McDonagh said. "There's no one thing I'd rather do. I'd rather just be able to play hockey again as soon as possible, get this group back together and get everybody rolling and be able to play again in front of our fans would be awesome, especially at this time of the year when playoffs are so exciting and end of the season stretch run is so exciting. This is what you work all offseason and the beginning part of the season to set yourself up for. So if we could finish any kind of hockey season, that would be ideal for us."

McDonagh, who reached the Stanley Cup final with the Rangers in 2014, has one goal and 12 points in 50 games this season.