NHL & NHLPA Inch Closer To Next Season

The NHL got closer to solidifying its '20-'21 season on Friday night as the NHLPA's executive board gave the go-ahead to proceed with the tentative deal. The NHL's Board of Governors could vote on the deal sometime in the next couple of days. If, as expected, players/owners both approve the tentative deal and Canadian health officials approve, the league will play a 56-game season that hopes to begin on January 13th. Here are some other relevant details...

This definitely has an old-school vibe to it: you need to fight your way out of your own division to reach the semis. And there will be no cross-divisional pollination like we've gotten over the last few years. Just a straight up brawl to get out of your own division.

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There's still a lot of details to hammer out over the next several days (namely, the Canadian division). But if these two parties were able to agree on the complexity and enormity of conducting simultaneous bubbles just a few months ago, then I don't anticiptate any last-minute tantrums regarding this. The bottom line is that we're much closer to the NHL season today than we were yesterday.