Compared to most of the National Hockey League, the Boston Bruins have a few extra days to prep before their season opener at TD Garden against the Dallas Stars on Saturday night. For most of the other 31 teams, their opening nights occur this week, beginning with Tuesday’s official start to the 2021-22 campaign.
An intriguing offseason saw the NHL change television contracts and re-align its four divisions — Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central and Pacific — to pre-pandemic times. We’ll kick off the intriguing developments with those newsworthy items and more ahead of Tuesday’s puck drop.
A return to rivalries and divisional norms
The pandemic-shortened season provided necessary divisional alignments.