NEW YORK / TORONTO – The National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) today announced an agreement to play a schedule of 56 games for the 2020-21 regular season from Wednesday, January 13, 2021 through May 8 . As part of the agreement, the Stanley Cup Playoffs would feature 16 teams in the traditional best-of-seven, four-round format and finish around mid-July with the plan to return to a ‘normal’ hockey calendar for the 2021 season. 22. (regular season from October). The NHL and NHLPA will be releasing health and safety protocols, transition rules, and the critical dates calendar and schedule for 2020-21 in the coming days.
Given the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHLPA and NHL want to be flexible and adaptable in their approach in the coming weeks to ensure compliance with guidelines from both local and national government and health authorities that focus on the health and safety of players, other game related personnel and the communities in which we play. The priority remains focused on the health and safety of our fans and players and club, league, NHLPA and arena personnel.
“The National Hockey League is looking forward to the opening of our 2020-21 season, especially since the 2019-2020 Return to Play was so successful in crowning a Stanley Cup champion,” said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. “While we are well aware of the challenges ahead, as was the case last spring and summer, we continue to prioritize the health and safety of our participants and the communities in which we live and play. And, as last spring and over the summer, I would like to thank the NHLPA, especially Executive Director Don Fehr, for working with us to get our League back on the ice. ”
“The players are delighted to have signed deals for the upcoming season, which will be unique but also very exciting for fans and players alike,” said Don Fehr, NHLPA Executive Director. “In these troubled times, we hope NHL games will provide much-needed entertainment for fans when players return to the ice.”
In reaching agreement on the format for the 2020-21 season, the NHL and NHLPA determined that the continued closure of the US-Canada border required a realignment and that the League and Players also attempted to travel the team minimize as much as possible by switching to exclusive intra-division play. It is the current plan to play games in the home arenas of participating teams, while we understand that most arenas will not be able to host fans, at least in the beginning of the season. However, depending on the prevailing conditions in both the local markets and North America, the League will be prepared to play matches in one or more “neutral locations” per division, if necessary.
For the 2020-2021 season, the teams will be rearranged as follows:
North: Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg
West: Anaheim, Arizona, Colorado, Los Angeles, Minnesota, St. Louis, San Jose, Vegas
Central: Carolina, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay
East: Boston, Buffalo, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington
Each team in the East, Central and West divisions plays eight times against every other team in its division, while each team in the North division plays nine or ten times against every other team in its division.
The top four teams in each division qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with intra-division play in the first two rounds (# 1 versus # 4; # 2 versus # 3). The four teams advancing to the semifinals would be classified based on their regular season point totals, with the No. 1 seed playing the No. 4 seed in one series and the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the other.
Formal training camps begin on January 3. There are no competitions for the season. The seven teams that did not participate in the Return to Play 2019/20 are allowed to open their training camps on December 31.