Latest On Target Start Date For NHL

We’re now less than four weeks away from the reported target start date of January 13 and still don’t have any official word from the NHL or NHLPA on when training camp will begin. Teams have begun the process of bringing their players back to North America to serve a quarantine period, but it’s still not clear when they will actually be suiting up for game one of a shortened season. Still, multiple reports have come out over the last 24 hours that suggest January 13 is still possible.

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweeted this morning that this is still the case, with both sides working to complete the agreement documents. Once that is complete, both sides—the NHL board of governors and the NHLPA executive board—will need to conduct a vote. Nick Alberga of Sportsnet tweeted that a Friday or Saturday vote was the hope from the player side, while David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports there is no board of governors call scheduled for today, but hope that the documents can be finalized today or tomorrow.

Frank Seravalli of TSN meanwhile reports that the league is working on a triple header for opening night which would feature the Tampa Bay Lightning raising the Stanley Cup banner (potentially against the Chicago Blackhawks), a “big east clash” potentially between the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins and a “marquee west matchup” to close the night, potentially between the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues. None of that is official yet and there is certainly no guarantee it will take place as Seravalli suggests, but it would certainly be an exciting way to welcome hockey back.

There is so much smoke surrounding an agreement coming out this weekend that hockey fans can get their hopes up a little bit. Perhaps it won’t be January 13, but it feels inevitable now that the NHL will return at some point either in January should no more obstacles be placed in the way. The question of whether it will be held in hub cities or home cities is one of the biggest still to be answered and likely one that the league will wait until the very last possible second to reveal.