Allie Wenskoski, Junior
The NHL’s (National Hockey League) Opening Day for the 2021 season began last Wednesday, January 13. This year the league will play a shortened season with each team only playing 56 games. Just like the NBA (National Basketball Association), the NHL finished their 2020 season after a delay due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2020 season ended on September 28, 2020 where the Tampa Bay Lightning won their second Stanley Cup over the Dallas Stars. The original 2021 season was planned to begin in October 2020 and finish in August 2021.
Due to this late finish, the NHL was forced to update their 2021 season schedule. Opening Day was pushed back until January 13, and the 2021 All-Star Game with All-Star Weekend was cancelled. The NHL trade deadline is now April 12 and the regular season will end May 8. Playoffs will begin after a 2-day break on May 11. The NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, stated that the NHL’s goal was to get back to “a great sense of normalcy as possible”. He additionally told the media that he is open to the idea of prohibiting fans in the beginning of the season and then slowly allowing fans into the stadiums in a socially distanced manner.
The beginning of the new season brings up plenty of questions for the NHL, including whether all of the teams will be able to survive a season without fans financially and what Canadian teams are going to do because of the American and Canadian border being closed for all non-essential travel.
On Opening Day, five NHL games were played. The Flyers beat the Penguins 6-3, the Maple Leafs beat the Canadiens 5-4, the Lightning prevailed over the Blackhawks 5-1, the Canucks crushed the Oilers 5-3, and the Blues scored 4-1 over the Avalanches. Though there was a delayed start to the season, it has officially begun. This season is going to be very different compared to previous years, but more normalized than last year. One of the biggest changes for the NHL’s 2021 season is the all Canadian league. For the first time, all seven Canadian teams in the league will only play other Canadian teams so that there is not cross contamination between the United States and Canada.
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(Photo Courtesy: NHL.com)
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