The National Hockey League and the NHL Players' Association are continuing to hammer out the logistics for the upcoming 2020-21 season. While nothing has officially been finalized between both sides, there is still hope that the league can get the season started in mid-January, preferably its most recent target start date of Jan. 13, 2021.
When speaking in a panel discussion on "Holding Domestic and International Competitions in the Modern Conditions of a Pandemic" at the World Hockey Forum in Moscow, Russia, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman addressed a number of the ongoing discussions via video conference. Bettman said that the league is going to try and get in as many games as possible this upcoming season, and that both the NHL and NHLPA are working with local and state government regulations to put together a plan that works and is safe for all parties involved.
"Right now, we're focused on whether or not we're going to play in our buildings and do some limited traveling or play in a bubble, and that's something we're working on and getting medical advice on," Bettman said according to Nick Cotsonika from NHL.com.
The hope for this upcoming season is that teams will be able to play in their home buildings from start-to-finish, and in front of fans, if possible.
When the NHL put together its Return To Play plan over the summer, 24 of the league's 31 teams played in bubble environments in Toronto and Edmonton to compete for the Stanley Cup. However, the players participating were forced to stay in Toronto and/or Edmonton for the entirety of their time playing, away from their family members until the completion of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final.
While it does not seem likely that another bubble scenario like the one this past summer is in the works, the league may have to consider using temporary bubbles to start the upcoming season if the situation with COVID-19 continues to affect certain teams and cities around the league.
"We have a couple of clubs that can't hold training camp or conduct games even without fans in their current buildings and facilities [due to COVID-19 restrictions], and we're going to have to move them somewhere else to play.
"If enough teams can't play, again, without fans, in their own facilities, then we may have to move more and more towards a hub. It may be that some teams are playing in other buildings. It may be that a whole group of teams have to play in other buildings."
One of the big talking points heading into the upcoming season in the NHL is the topic of divisional re-alignment.
Due to the ongoing restrictions at the United States-Canada border, it is likely that the league's seven Canadian teams will form their own division this season and play amongst themselves. Meanwhile, the rest of the 24 teams in the league will play in their own new-look, eight-team divisions and only play the teams in their own division.
Part of the reasoning for the way the NHL is planning the divisional play in the regular season is because the league is trying to limit travel as much as possible for teams without having to go back to a bubble situation.
"Doing that will not be as risk-averse as being in a bubble or a hub, but for an entire regular season, even if it's abbreviated, we didn't think we could put the players in a bubble for six months," Bettman said. "That just wasn't practical."
Sportsnet hockey insider Elliotte Friedman reports that if there are to be any temporary hub cities for the upcoming season, those cities would include Columbus, Ohio, Newark, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Nevada and Edmonton, Alberta or Toronto, Ontario in Canada.
While there are plenty of more logistics to go over and finalize before the league can announced any sort of plan or schedule for the upcoming season, Bettman realizes that it will be a challenge this season to not only ensure the health and safety of everyone taking part, but also to not affecting the local communities also involved, whether it is risking the further spread of COVID-19 or taking away medical resources to help combat the virus.
"We understand what is vitally important to each community and to the health and welfare of each community, and we don't want to do anything that would interfere with that," Bettman said. "Everything that we're doing and working on with the Players' Association starts with keeping the players and the communities in which we play safe and healthy."
While talks between the NHL and NHLPA are ongoing, Renaud Lavoie from TVA Sports in Quebec reports that an official announcement of plans for the 2020-21 season is not expected to come any time before Friday.
Stay tuned for the latest on this developing story...