The National Hockey League appears to be setting its sights on trying to get back to normalcy with their 2021-22 regular season schedule.
According to TSN hockey insider Pierre LeBrun, the NHL shared with all of the league's 32 general managers on Wednesday its hopeful target date to start the next hockey season. That date would be Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021.
This target date would be a week later than the league's usual start date for an 82-game regular season, which usually commences during the first week of October. However, the league is still planning on returning to a full 82-game schedule for the 2021-22 season, barring any setbacks on the COVID-19 front.
LeBrun also notes that the hope is for NHL training camps to open for all 32 teams as early as Sept. 22, allowing for teams to get in some potential preseason games during that nearly three-week span.
The NHL is currently in the back end of a 56-game regular season, which got underway back on Jan. 13 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The regular season is scheduled to wrap up league-wide on Wednesday, May 19 before the Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin, though a start date for the postseason has yet to be determined.
The biggest addition to the NHL in the upcoming 2021-22 season is the official introduction of the Seattle Kraken, who became the NHL's 32nd franchise back on Dec. 4, 2018 when the NHL's Board of Governors unanimously approved the vote for Seattle's expansion application.
Seattle will officially begin to formulate their team with the NHL Expansion Draft set for Wednesday, July 21. General manager Ron Francis and his front office staff will then have the selection of one player from 30 NHL teams to add to the group for the Kraken's inaugural season.
Given the Expansion Draft rules, the Vegas Golden Knights will be the only team not be forced to expose a player for selection in the Expansion Draft. Vegas was the NHL's 31st team when the Golden Knights entered the league in 2017.
Following the Seattle Expansion Draft, the league is scheduled to hold the 2021 NHL Draft two days later with Round 1 set to take place on Friday, July 23. Rounds 2-7 of the NHL Draft are scheduled to take place the next day on Saturday, July 24.
Four days later, the NHL is expected to officially kick off the 2021-22 season with the opening of the new league year, as well as the official start of NHL Free Agency.
All dates for the upcoming league events are subject to change.