The 2020 NHL season seems like it did not end that long ago when the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars in six games to take the Stanley Cup back on September 28, 2020. Now just over three months later, the condensed 2021 season is officially underway. Even though both seasons have been impacted by the pandemic, the 2021 season will look different from where we started the in 2020. Divisions have been realigned, the schedule has been shortened, and teams will be playing in front of limited capacity crowds in their home arenas…for the most part.
There are still four divisions for the 2021 hockey season, however some teams have been shuffled around in light of ongoing restrictions due to the pandemic. The seven Canadian teams have all been placed in one division, the North Division, due to cross-border travel restrictions imposed by the Canadian government. The other three divisions (East, West, and South) are composed of the remaining teams based on geographical proximity. This is designed to help the players avoid extensive travel and potential increased exposure to the virus. With the divisions set, American teams will play their divisional opponents eight times each, and the Canadian teams will play their divisional opponents nine or 10 times to make up the 56 games of the shortened season.
The regular season is currently scheduled to run until May when the playoffs are set to begin. This means the NHL is planning on playing 868 games in over 116 days. With that tight time frame, league officials have already planned on setting some days aside in case makeup games are required due to positive test results. The league has also suspended international games and stadium series games. Even with the potential postponements, the league still believes they will make it through the playoffs by at least mid-summer. The 2021 NHL playoffs will consist of 16 teams, with the four best teams from each division claiming the spots. It still has not been determined if a playoff bubble atmosphere, like what was used in the 2020 playoffs, will be put in place for the post season. However, the regular season players have voiced they would like to play at their home arenas.
With games taking place at most regular home arenas, crowd sizes will be determined by each city’s or state’s local health guidelines. For example, the San Jose Sharks have already been affected by their local guidelines, with Santa Clara County banning all contact sports in response to the local rise of positive cases. The Sharks are starting their season with an extremely long road trip until the ban is lifted or they find a temporary home for the 2021 season, much like the Toronto Raptors of the NBA relocating to Tampa Bay for the current season. Almost half of the league’s revenue is generated from fan attendance at games, so it’s vitally important for at least some teams to have people in their arenas. The Arizona Coyotes and Dallas Stars, for instance, will be operating at 25-30% capacity to start the season, meaning 3,000 – 5,000 fans will be in attendance. Obviously, those numbers are far from the normal 20,000 that would be attending a sell-out game, but it’s a good start to what will hopefully be a season that moves the sport back towards normalcy.