The National Hockey League (NHL) has returned! The 2020-2021 season began on January 13th, 2021, and will conclude on May 8th, 2021 after each team plays 56 games. A 56 game season contrary to the typical 82 game season is not the only major change implemented this year. Due to the Canadien and American border being closed to non-essential personnel, there are 4 brand new divisions that will create and reignite numerous rivalries during this season and the future. The biggest change is the creation of the North Division which contains all 7 Canadien teams. The 24 American teams are split into 3 divisions: the West, Central, and East. Divisions are more important than ever this year since teams will only play against division foes in an attempt to limit travel and limit the possibility for widespread COVID-19 outbreaks. The breakdown of the divisions will be listed below:

North: Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottowa Senators, and the Montreal Canadiens

West: Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, Vegas Golden Knights, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, and the St. Louis Blues

Central: Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, and the Tampa Bay Lightning

East: Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Washington Capitals

Teams in the West, Central, and East division will play the other teams in their division 8 times each (4 games at home and 4 games away) and the teams in the North division will play other teams either 9 or 10 times since there is 1 less team in the division. Because conferences were scrapped for this shortened season, the top 4 teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs which makes a game more important than it ever has been. To limit fatigue from playing a condensed season, teams will play multiple games against each other before moving on to a different opponent. For example, the Anaheim Ducks began their season by playing 2 games in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights, and then came back to host the Minnesota Wild for two games and the Colorado Avalanche for two games. This scheduling update has already caused an increased amount of friction and bad blood between teams meaning this season may be more physical and chippy than previous seasons.

Players and coaches are forced to follow dozens of protocols to combat spreading COVID-19 and because of these protocols, the trade market may be quieter than normal as a player has to quarantine at least 7 days before being able to join his new team (a player entering Canada must quarantine at least 14 days) which may make teams hesitant to pull the trigger on trades since they will not have the players on the ice immediately.

Fans will not be at every game due to local protocols, but teams have the ability to generate revenue from selling a limited amount of tickets if their country permits them. Every team is facing a dramatic loss of revenue this year because of the inability to fill arenas and the NHL has publicly stated that by playing this season, it will lose billions of dollars. This raises questions about why even play the season, but with the NHL’s contract with NBC Sports ending after this season, there needed to be games played so networks will fight for tv rights in America. The NHL hopes that a loss of money this season will lead to riches in the future.

The 2020-2021 NHL season has already been crazy and will continue to be a must-see for every hockey fan. Will a team with little hope coming into the year shock the league and win it all, will a current favorite win, or will the Tampa Bay Lightning repeat as champions? Hockey fans will find out as this unprecedented season continues.