The NHL and NHLPA have reached an tentative agreement on a 56-game 2021 season that would begin on January 13th.
A couple of things we won’t be seeing will be exhibition or preseason games or prorated salaries, according to Elliotte Friedman. Training camps will open on January 3rd or December 30th for the teams that were not invited into the post-season bubble last summer.
And speaking of the playoffs, the plan is to change them, too. This sounds like we could have a Thunderdome-like situation brewing.
Playoffs will be top four in each division -- each division produces a champion for the Stanley Cup Semifinal
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 19, 2020
The divisional alignment seemed to have been settled a while back, but heath regulations in Canada might affect things.