The 2020-21 season start to be pushed to January!

Today’s announcement from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was an encouraging one, however, everyone knew, even the commish himself, that the resumption of play for the 2020 postseason would impact the next campaign. 

Bettman however maintains that no matter what happens this summer with the postseason most likely ending into early fall, he wants to have a full calendar for the 2021-season. 

However, he dropped a bomb, saying the next campaign could kick off with the Winter Classic, which we all know takes place on January 1st. 

"Could we start with the Winter Classic? Anything's possible."

General managers were informed earlier in a conference call before the league’s announcement. The National Hockey League Players’ Association Executive Board gave the green light on a 24-team Return to Play proposal last week.

We are still in the first steps of a series of things that need to go right for the NHL to resume its 2019-20 season as there remains a lot of details to iron on, however, this is encouraging news for fans, players and staff out there.

We still have no timeline for when Phase 3 will take place and lead to play resumption. But for sure, we get it by now, the next season will start much later than we ever thought.