The National Hockey League and the NHL Players' Association are currently in talks about the logistics of the upcoming 2020-21 season, which will reportedly include a 56-game season starting on Jan. 13, 2021.
While both sides still have plenty of topics to discuss and finalize before any official announcement can be made for the season, one hot topic that has been discussed for quite a while now is divisional realignment.
TSN hockey insider Pierre LeBrun reports that while nothing has officially been set in stone yet, this is how each division could look for the upcoming year:
Division I:
- Boston Bruins
- Buffalo Sabres
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Islanders
- New York Rangers
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Washington Capitals
Division II:
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Detroit Red Wings
- Florida Panthers
- Minnesota Wild
- Nashville Predators
- Tampa Bay Lightning
Division III:
- Anaheim Ducks
- Arizona Coyotes
- Colorado Avalanche
- Dallas Stars
- Los Angeles Kings
- St. Louis Blues
- San Jose Sharks
- Vegas Golden Knights
All-Canada Division:
- Calgary Flames
- Edmonton Oilers
- Montreal Canadiens
- Ottawa Senators
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Vancouver Canucks
- Winnipeg Jets
The need for divisional realignment comes with the current border restrictions between the United States and Canada. The border is closed to non-essential travel until Dec. 21, but that closure is likely to be extended with the number of COVID-19 cases continuing to rise across Canada and the U.S.
The border restrictions have already had their effect in the National Basketball Association and in Major League Baseball this year with the Toronto Raptors and Toronto Blue Jays having to play in the U.S. for part of, if not all of a season. The Raptors will start play for the 2020-21 NBA season playing in Tampa Bay, Florida, while the Blue Jays spent their 2020 season playing in Buffalo, New York.
"There are a lot of things we have to do to return to play," NHL Commissioner Bettman told Tom Gulitti from NHL.com. "For us to return to play, we're not going to play 82 games, obviously, and we have travel issues because of the restrictions at the border between Canada and the U.S. You can't go back and forth, so we're actually going to have to realign.
"If everything stays the way it is, we're probably going to have to have a Canadian division and realign in the U.S., and we're trying to focus on dealing with all of those challenges."
With Canada having seven of the NHL's 31 teams, it allows the league to put all the Canadian teams in their own division and start intradivisional play until allowed to play other teams across the border.
While no schedule for games has officially been set, the teams in the U.S. should be able to travel and play in each team's arena like the MLB and National Football League have done this year.
In order for divisional realignment to become official this season, the NHL Board of Governors will need to vote at least two-thirds in favor of the changes.
The hope is that both the NHL and NHLPA can continue to make significant progress with discussions and be able to send an agreement to vote for approval between the Board of Governors and the NHLPA executive board by the end of the week. However, there still has been no definitive timeline set for any announcement.
Stay tuned for more on this developing story...