The NHL is going to start a new season! On January 13th, the NHL is going to begin a new 56-Game season. But this is not going to look like a regular season. As of now, it is unlikely that there will be fans in attendance. This is only one of the ways that this season will be different than usual. Another big change this season is the change of the divisions. The NHL has decided to change the divisions because of the pandemic. It is their way of limiting travel across the country and into Canada. Firstly, the names of the divisions have changed. The new names of the divisions are North, East, Central, and West. The previous divisions were Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central, and Pacific. In the 2021 season, another difference is the emergence of all Canadian divisions. All of the Canadian teams in the NHL will be in the North Division. Other divisions had variations of teams as well.  This season the games will be played within the division. In the Central, East, and West divisions the teams will play each other 8 times this season and the North division will play each other nine or ten times. The start of the regular season will be on January 13th. The trade deadline will be April 12th. The end of the regular season will take place on May 8th and the Last day of playoffs will be on July 15th. Some other important dates are that the expansion draft will take place on July 21. The NHL draft will be on July 23rd and 24th. Finally, the start of free agency will be on July 28.  This year the playoffs will be a 16-team best-of-seven playoff but it will be the top 4 teams in each division who will qualify to the playoffs and will be placed in divisional brackets for the early rounds of the playoffs. The teams that make it to the Conference Final (or as it is called in a normal year) will be seeded by their points from the regular season.

This means that two teams from the same conference could play each other in the cup final! That is never usually the case.  The games will be played in the fan’s home arenas unless otherwise prevented by Covid-19 pandemic regulations in which case a neutral area will be chosen for the game to be played.