After weeks of discussion, it looks as if the NHL has a start date, which could see the Montreal Canadiens suit up a little over a month from now.
Let’s all take a collective breath because we FINALLY have a date. After weeks and weeks of frustrating finance talk revolving around the NHL owners and the Players Association possibly tweaking the newly agreed upon CBA, we’ve moved on to what’s more important: hockey. Nothing has been “officially” announced, but based on the amount of talk swirling around the media at the moment, it seems like the Montreal Canadiens and the rest of the league will be gearing up for the 2020/21 season on January 13th, 2021.
Hockey Insiders Pierre Lebrun and Darren Dreger have been all over the discussion’s development for some time now. Again, after mostly focusing on money, the two bodies of the NHL decided to leave the agreement as is and figure out the logistics of the season. Both Lebrun and Dreger remained clear with the focus being a mid-January start, but it was Greg Wyshynski of ESPN gave the fans what they wanted.
According to an NHL executive who is in the know of the process, the NHL season is going to start on the 13th and will be a total of 56 games. It’s fewer than some of the numbers floating around (70 and 60), but 8 more than what the league ran in the 2012-13 shortened season.
Again, there hasn’t been a formal announcement from the league. That said, it’s looking good.
You’d have to think training camps would open up perhaps New Years Day or a few days before it as players were adamant on wanting to spend Christmas with their families. This may be different for Canadian teams; however, as the two-week quarantine rule for incoming travellers is still in effect. That’s why it was important for Jesperi Kotkaniemi to return when he did.
Cases overseas are intensifying, but him being back now means he’ll be available to start training with the Montreal Canadiens without needing a two-week buffer.
You can’t get any better than this when it comes to the good news. With serious concerns of the worst-case scenario of all these arguments (NHL cancellation), it’s refreshing to see a legitimate plan in motion.
Now we can get back to focusing on what is crucial: the Montreal Canadiens and the important season they have ahead of them. There are a lot of expectations in the universe about this team after the moves Marc Bergevin made. Many hockey minds, including Brian Burke and Craig Button, have them as the best team in the proposed Canadian Division.
The thing about expectations, unfortunately, is that they can quickly turn into disappointments. And with the investments the Montreal Canadiens made this offseason, there isn’t any room for them.