Six playing scenarios now on the table for 2020-21 NHL season!

We are still waiting for the National Hockey League and its Players Association to get together and meet to discuss what will come of the 2020-21 season and what the set-up of that campaign will look like. While we might be getting impatient, Darren Dreger revealed on Tuesday night’s Insider Trading on TSN that the league is currently looking at six different playing scenarios for the upcoming season and one might be standing out more than the others. 

“Well, perhaps in preparation for the bigger meeting with the NHLPA, the NHL continues to work on as many as six playing scenarios for the 2020-21 season, and that includes a Canadian division and what that might look like. It could be just one city, one hub, that houses all seven Canadian teams, but there are some big concerns over what happens if you start that way and then the world gets healthier and you have to flip back to normal divisional play inside a regular season. Logistically that could be a nightmare. You could see two hubs in the U.S. if the Canadian restrictions don’t soften moving forward but this is all a day by day process and nothing is finalized.”

This is not the first time we hear about this potential scenario to get hockey back on the ice. The set up would push all Canadian clubs, the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens in the first group, the Northern Division to compete North of the border in 2020-21. 

Out West, the San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild would become the Western division and face another throughout the year. 

Up East, the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins would create the Eastern Division for an intense competition. 

And down South, you’d have the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers for the Southern Division with a mix of different contenders. 

This could be an option though we are now aware that five others are on the table and could be discussed to create the reinvented 2020-21 regular season calendar. 

We bet we will get to know more about these other scenarios and let’s hope one of them gets us closer to getting hockey back!