NHL Notebook: Could Bruins find themselves in a drastically different regional alignment during COVID-impacted 2021 season?

The NHL has kept its cards close to its vest when it comes to sharing details for the upcoming 2021 season, and for good reason. 

Yes, the league and the NHLPA did announce in a joint release that it was setting Jan. 1 as a tentative starting date for a new campaign. But, based on NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s comments ahead of the Stanley Cup Final last month, it appears as though any plans set in motion for a new season can’t entirely be set in stone, as the situation at hand with COVID-19 will necessitate a fluid approach when it comes to setting critical dates and building the framework of a drastically different league in 2021. 

“Nobody can tell me whether or not the border between Canada and the United States is going to be open by a certain date, nobody can tell me what the state of COVID-19 is going to be,” Bettman said. “Nobody can tell me whether or not our arenas will be able to have either socially distanced or fully occupied buildings. And we’re gonna have to do the same thing we did to get ready for the return to play, explore all the options, be flexible and agile enough to implement when the appropriate time comes.”

Already, it appears as though that Jan. 1 deadline might be a necessary casualty as the league looks to find some semblance of solid footing in 2021.

In a radio interview with KHSP out in Las Vegas earlier this week, Golden Knights owner Bill Foley echoed some of Bettman’s sentiments when it comes to what the landscape might look like across North America come Jan. 1, with rising virus rates, attendance restrictions across most markets and border lockdowns prompting the NHL to take a step back and regroup a month or so later. 

"I don't think that border is going to be open before Jan. 1,” Foley said. “I really don't. Canada has spikes going on and they're starting to lock down again. I don't think they're going to be crossing the border.”

Rather, Foley believes the NHL’s new season will start on Feb. 1, with the league having to make concessions in order to complete this shortened campaign before colliding with the planned coverage for the now-2021 Olympics in Tokyo. Olympics coverage will be broadcast on NBC — who also hold the rights for national hockey broadcasts (i.e. the Stanley Cup Playoffs) within the U.S. As such, Foley believes the league could trim the regular 82-game slate down to “48 or 56 games” — although that accelerated schedule could still be taxing over the course of this augmented season. 

"If we're going to play 56 games over four months, that's a lot of games,” Foley said. “There's not going to be a break. There's going to be a lot of back-to-backs. In theory we're going to play four games a week to get this season done. Maybe even more -- five games a week.” 

Playing the waiting game and hoping for clearer skies on the horizon might be a route that pro hockey must take, especially for a league that heavily relies on gate revenue. Presently, Foley noted Vegas can hold major events with 10% capacity filled — not nearly enough to save franchises from taking on major hits in terms of revenue. 

“The NFL has such a great TV contract that they can survive,” Foley said. “We do not have that kind of contract. The NHL is a game-day activity. If you don't have game-day revenue, you don't survive.”

He added: "I think everyone is very nervous. I think we all thought we'd be working our way out of COVID by now and have fans in the arena. We have to see what we accomplish with 40% or 50% of fans. Can we get that many people into the arena and have it be done safely? Can they all be tested with a nasal swab the day of the game? Right now in Vegas, you can have 10% of your capacity. I have no clue how it's going to work. We need to get up to 40 or 50% attendance, and then we can come up with some kind of program where every other game you can go to, that sort of thing. But with 1,800 people in the arena? That's not enough.

But beyond Foley's candid thoughts when it comes to the harsh realities the league and its franchises face next season, Foley also let slip that, if and when the league does get off the ground, the set-up across the NHL could look very, very different — especially if the border between the U.S. and Canada remains closed.

When speaking about the scenario in which the Golden Knights would have to face off against their former defenseman in Nate Schmidt — dealt to Vancouver to clear cap space for Alex Pietrangelo — Foley didn't seem too concerned.

“Yeah, but they’re going to be playing in the Canadian Division," he responded.

Hmmmm.

If the U.S./Canadian border does indeed remain closed by the start of the new season, the NHL very well could re-align its various divisions, as travel between regional foes such as the Bruins, Maple Leafs and Canadiens may not be possible — especially within the structure of a normal NHL season. The Blue Jays faced such an issue earlier this year, prompting the club to have to move to Buffalo for its home games during the 2020 season.

Now, the Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Senators, Jets, Oilers, Flames and Canucks are not going to pack their bags and move to Niagara Falls, Burlington, Rochester, Fargo, Seattle, Portland, etc. etc. next season. Nope.

But instead, the NHL could keep all of the Canadian teams together in one division within their borders, while breaking up the rest of the teams in the U.S. into more regional-based divisions in order to lower the amount of travel between clubs — along with adding more fuel to the fire with some traditional rivalries by scheduling plenty more head-to-head matchups.

Of course, this is all conjecture, but imagine what the NHL would look like if a schedule focused more on regional-based matchups? There have been many attempts to draw a rough outline of what a revamped alignment could look like next season, but u/PaperMoonShine on Reddit might be the closest with their sketch.



Of course, it's not a perfect system  Detroit and Columbus stuck in a division with more "southern" markets like Nashville, Carolina and Tampa Bay), but that Metro/Atlantic/Northeast division seems pretty accurate if the NHL wants to minimize travel and limit the risk of outbreaks carrying across all corners of the league.

In a ramped-up schedule with multiple back-to-backs, we could see scenarios in which a road trip for Boston could be comprised of two or three straight games against the Rangers, two or more against the Islanders and two or more against the Devils before heading back home — resembling more of a baseball season when it comes to scheduling series, rather than individual home and road games.

Of course, this re-alignment would take away from the pure theater that would come from Boston getting multiple matchups against nearby opponents (albeit up north) like Toronto and Montreal. But on the bright side, jumping into a division without teams like the Lightning and even the Leafs standing in the way might be a nice break for Bruce Cassidy's club.

Still, this potential Northeast/Metro division is far from a cakewalk. Yes, the Devils and Sabres will be the punching bags of a division like this (Taylor Hall isn't going to fix a busted-up blue line and goalie corps in Buffalo), but a very talented Flyers team should build off last year's playoff push and could re-ignite a rather dormant rivalry with the B's with some extended head-to-head matchups.

Even though Braden Holtby is no longer stateside and haunting Boston's dreams, the case could be made that the Capitals might be stronger in net next season with Henrik Lundqvist/Ilya Samsonov between the pipes, given that Holtby was awfully mortal in 2019-20 (.897 save percentage). The Penguins' offseason has been ... well, puzzling, but any club with the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will still be a threat, albeit you wonder if their window is also closing.

A team like the Islanders — who play a stingy, grind-em-out style under the watch of Barry Trotz — wouldn't be fun to match up against for most divisional opponents, but Boston has had the Isles' number over the years, posting a record of 5-0-1 against New York since Trotz took over in 2018, — averaging a little over three goals per game in those six outings. Even though the Rangers are far from a perfect team, they should be awfully exciting to watch in 2021 and beyond, with top pick Alexis Lafrenière serving as another key cog on an uber-skilled Blueshirts roster. Boston could bury four with ease against the Rangers, but New York very well could bury five with regularity down the other end of the ice.

All in all, a new division like this might still benefit the Bruins, who should at least be able to hang with most of these clubs in a compacted 2021 schedule (the same can't be said against matchups with Tampa, for example). Would they be the favorite in the division? Based on their moves so far this offseason, likely not — especially with Philly's Carter Hart and a slew of other youngsters poised to take another step forward.

And, of course, the league could find a way to work out special exemptions in terms of travel between the U.S. and Canada to avoid a situation like this entirely. But, based on the way things have progressed — and the dangers with committing to one set plan when it comes to tackling sports in the time of COVID — it's wise for the NHL to keep just about every option on the table, include ones as unorthodox as this.

Bruins done with big moves this offseason?

While a majority of Don Sweeney's media availability on Saturday revolved around Matt Grzelcyk's contract extension, he did manage to temper a fair of amount of expectations when it comes to the offseason wishlist for many Bruins fans.

Aside from in-house moves like signing Jake DeBrusk to a new deal, don't expect much in terms of fireworks — whether it be signing one of the few remaining top UFAs like Mike Hoffman or dropping the hammer on the cap-crunched Lightning team by way of an offer sheet.

"We continue to look for depth opportunities or players that were in trade conversations that we may have a hole to fill," Sweeney said. "I really don’t know. We’re not – I wouldn’t say we have anything imminent to put forth. We snagged Greg McKegg from a depth standpoint and create internal completion as well. As I’ve mentioned before, we have several players that are knocking on the door that we’d like them to see them continue to push, both in our forward group and our back-end. A little bit of a growth opportunity in – we still have to figure out how the season plays out, but we’re comfortable at some point in time we’re going to be up and running, and our guys will be ready to go. We felt all along that we were going to need some internal growth. As far as the cap space, I think we’re in a very comfortable position to finalize the RFA guys we have to and look for other opportunities that we may be able to pursue otherwise."

As for the future of Zdeno Chara?

"No, we’ve again – communicated consistently with Zdeno and (agent) Matt Keator," Sweeney said. "We’re just waiting for him to initiate what he’d like to do moving forward. I feel very comfortable allowing that to take the necessary time and let Zdeno his own make the decisions along that route."

Joe Thornton signs with Toronto

Say it ain't so, Jumbo Joe.

After 15 seasons in San Jose, the 41-year-old pivot signed a one-year, $700,000 contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night — giving the future Hall of Famer potentially one more chance at a deep Cup run.

https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1317207507874570245

It's a low-risk move for the Leafs, who could sick the former Bruin on other bottom-six lines as a playmaking option in the middle. Is it enough to get them over the hump? Methinks not — and it's going to sting quite a bit when Boston is the club that ends Thornton's latest hunt for Lord Stanley's Cup during the 2021 playoffs.