NHL, NHLPA reach agreement to play 2021 season

The tentative agreement between the NHL and NHLPA regarding the 2020-21 season has become official on Sunday afternoon.

This past Friday, hockey fans received the bombshell news that the NHL and NHLPA recached a tentative agreement on a 56-game 2020-21 campaign. The only thing remaining was for both sides to approve the deal with an official vote.

On Sunday, the NHL and the player’s union agreed to terms on the upcoming campaign, which will officially take place on Jan. 13.

"“The National Hockey League looks forward to the opening of our 2020-21 season, especially since the Return to Play in 2019-20 was so successful in crowning a Stanley Cup champion,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said, via NHL.com. “While we are well aware of the challenges ahead, as was the case last spring and summer, we are continuing to prioritize the health and safety of our participants and the communities in which we live and play. And, as was the case last spring and summer, I thank the NHLPA, particularly Executive Director Don Fehr, for working cooperatively with us to get our League back on the ice.”"

Format for the upcoming season

The divisions will be realigned to correlate with Canada’s understandably strict COVID-19 protocols. So, the NHL will be split between the East, West, Central and North, with the latter housing all seven Canadian teams. In regards to scheduling, teams in the East, West and Central will face off against each other eight times this season, while squads in the North will play each other nine or 10 times this campaign.

The division format can be found in the tweet below:

The Stanley Cup Playoff format will remain at 16-games, but there will be no more Wild Card teams. Instead, the top four teams in each division will clinch a playoff berth. From there, those four squads will face off against each other in a mini tournament (No. 1 vs. No. 4, No. 2 vs. No. 3) until a division winner is determined. The four division winners will then be reseeded based off their regular-season point total in the Stanley Cup Semifinals (No. 1 vs. No. 4, No. 2 vs. No. 3), with the two victors advancing to the Finals.

All regular-season games will be played in each team’s home arena, but fan attendance will be dependent on COVID-19 protocols instilled by local government and public health officials. However, the league says there will be one or two “neutral sites” per division if bubbling becomes a necessity.

The NHL will announce the schedule in addition to the health and safety protocols in the coming days. It took a while to work through the hurdles, but hockey is officially back.