NHL general managers are about to enter yet another great unknown. And like the rest of the world, it's something they've become accustomed to these past 10 months. The 2019-20 season was suspended in March because of COVID-19 before the league pulled off a summer restart inside tightly-controlled bubbles without fans that kept the novel coronavirus at bay. Then the draft and opening of free agency were pushed back to October, while there is a flat, stuck-in-neutral salary cap for the foreseeable future because of crushing financial realities caused by the pandemic. With a shortened 2020-21 schedule of 56 games set to begin next week — one highlighted by realigned divisions, including an all-Canadian circuit borne out of necessity due to border restrictions — executives face more big questions.
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