According to reports from all the usual sources, the 2020-21 NHL season will begin January 13, ten months to the day since the COVID-19 pandemic paused the 2019-20 regular season, after the NHL and NHLPA reached an agreement Friday night. The news was first reported by Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
As had been predicted, LeBrun reports that the season will comprise 56 games, and Renaud P. Lavoie of TVA Sports adds that the division of all-Canadian teams is expected to come to fruition. It had been reported earlier this week that the division was in danger of not being allowed to play in Canada, and the NHL continues to consider contingency plans to allow teams to play, either by moving teams to the United States in the way the Toronto Raptors (Tampa) and Blue Jays (Buffalo) have done, or perhaps by putting all seven Canadian teams in a bubble in Edmonton.