Rumor: NHL very close to announcing the official start date of the 2020 - 2021 season.

Details inside.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Rumor: NHL very close to announcing the official start date of the 2020 - 2021 season.
Keystone Press

There has been a ton of uncertainty around what the future holds for the National Hockey League as a result of the ongoing pandemic and the uncertainty of how to move forward doesn't seem to be clearing up anytime soon. As a result the NHL, a league that is more dependant on ticket sale revenue that any of the other major sports leagues, has been tiptoeing around an announcement for next season while leagues like the National Basketball Association have already come out and made their announcements. 

There is however some good news hockey fans. Although the league has not yet come forward and made an announcement the latest report from NHL insider Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports now indicates that the league is just days away from making an announcement of its own. Even better news however is the fact that despite rumblings of owners wanting to cancel or delay the season, it sounds like the league is moving forward with its original start plan of January 1st.

From Lavoie:

The NHL is still hoping to start next season in January first. League hopes to make an official announcement as soon as possible. It could take another 7 to 10 days. Lots of works to be done until then.

This would mean that at the time of this writing we are less than 2 months away from the start of a brand new NHL season and that also means that we are very close to NHL teams getting back into training camp as the prepare for the upcoming season. I for one am thrilled at this announcement because frankly I was not loving the idea of having hockey across the summer months once again.

Interestingly enough this will now also put something of a deadline on teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning that have been dealing with major cap concerns during the offseason, given that every roster in the league will need to be cap compliant by the 1st of January if that does indeed become the start date for the 2020 - 2021 NHL season.

On a final note, Lavoie mentions that there is still much work to be done but that is of course completely understandable. Much like when they returned for the playoffs the league has created a committee for it's planned return to play next season, and that committee includes players who are representing the NHLPA. The league and the players association are no doubt haggling over the details of this thing, but keep in mind it is in the clear interest of both sides to get a deal done and get it done on time. 

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