News Article: NHL 2021 season update: Schedule, divisions, playoff format, COVID-19 protocols and more

[deeshamrock]

Long article but pretty informative, gives some key dates and season/post season info

Hockey is coming back! Everything you need to know for the 2021 season




Training camps open 12/31 and Jan 3. (San Jose will to relocate, due to all contact sports banned thru Jan 8)

Schedule will be released soon.

Attendance will follow the Government guidance from market to market

Players may opt out due to COV19 concerns. however , they don't have much time to decide:

According to the NHL and NHLPA protocols, players must provide at least seven days before training camp to declare their intention to opt out.

Teams should be able to play in their own arenas, although the situation in Canada has to be resolved.

The NHL also pledges to remain "flexible and adaptable" and could even pivot to hub cities at some point if things go awry.


NHL is tryintg to procure vaccines for players, coaches, staff,etc, but nothintg is imminent , NHLPA is not in favor of mandatory vaccinations

Even if most agree that vaccination is the best path forward, enforcing mandatory vaccinations infringes on players' individual rights and could be a slippery slope going



Condensed schedule for 56 games , season ends May 8

Trade deadline- Apr 12

Expansion draft fo Kraken Jul 21

NHL draft Jul 23,24

Free Agency Jul 28

Playoffs:

16 team , 4 round best of 7. 4 teams from each division will qualify for the playoffs
But there is a curve in the road this year:

The first two rounds will be intradvisional play. Then, the four division winners will advance to the semifinals, reseeded based on their regular-season point totals (No. 1 would play No. 4, No. 2 would play No. 3).

The two semifinal teams will play in the Stanley Cup Final -- and if you've been following along, that means it's not necessarily going to be an Eastern Conference team versus a Western Conference team competing for the Cup.


Players will wear ads on their helmets

Click to read more...

 

[Bandit]

Players will wear ads on their helmets

It was only a matter of time but f*** that.

 

[SufferingSelfCreated]

It was only a matter of time but f*** that.

I think most people felt ads on jerseys, was inevitable. So just the helmet, I can consider that a win.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I think most people felt ads on jerseys, was inevitable. So just the helmet, I can consider that a win.

Especially in a year like this when they could have sold out super hard

 

[kingsfan28]

It was only a matter of time but f*** that.

Get used to this...

Bleh!

 

[Bandit]

I think most people felt ads on jerseys, was inevitable. So just the helmet, I can consider that a win.

Yeah but this is the hockey equivalent of "just the tip". It won't be long before the rest is in.

 

[SufferingSelfCreated]

Yeah but this is the hockey equivalent of "just the tip". It won't be long before the rest is in.

I don't really care,tbh. Will the Jerseys look better with ads? No, of course not. Do I really give S***? No. As long as they play hockey,I can deal with ads on Jerseys. I'm not going to worry about something I have zero control over.

 

[King'sPawn]

I'm totally fine with ads on equipment.

 

[KINGS17]

It was only a matter of time but f*** that.

Yeah, this is bullshit.

 

[KINGS17]

Hey, maybe they can put the name of the sponsors on the cup instead of the players' names once they start wearing uniforms that make them look like race car drivers.

 

[kingsboy11]

Man some of you guys clearly don't watch soccer. That sport has had ads on jerseys for years and nobody cares about it. Hell even some leagues are sponsored. The NHL will start small and go from there. I highly doubt they'll go the way of how Sweden does it having the players covered head to toe with ads.

 

[Choralone]

I can handle helmets, but I hate the soccer jersey look. As far as I can tell, one of the most popular teams in the world is "Emirates."

 

[Bandit]

Man some of you guys clearly don't watch soccer. That sport has had ads on jerseys for years and nobody cares about it. Hell even some leagues are sponsored. The NHL will start small and go from there. I highly doubt they'll go the way of how Sweden does it having the players covered head to toe with ads.

Correct, soccer blows except for the world cup. Even then... meh.

I can handle helmets, but I hate the soccer jersey look. As far as I can tell, one of the most popular teams in the world is "Emirates."

This.

 

[kingsboy11]

I can handle helmets, but I hate the soccer jersey look. As far as I can tell, one of the most popular teams in the world is "Emirates."

Wow a whopping 3 major teams and a couple others in leagues nobody cares about with the shirt sponsor fly emirates. Got it. Some of you guys need to get out more (post covid)

 

[kilowatt]

Surely ads on jerseys and equipment will mean cheaper tickets to live events and lower costs at the arena, right? Oh, no? Just the rich getting richer? Oh, okay, cool, I'll just continue to f*** myself, thanks.

 

[Bandit]

Surely ads on jerseys and equipment will mean cheaper tickets to live events and lower costs at the arena, right? Oh, no? Just the rich getting richer? Oh, okay, cool, I'll just continue to f*** myself, thanks.

Think of the billionaires!

 

[kilowatt]

Think of the billionaires!

These ads will trickle down eventually!

 

[onlyalad]

 

[Choralone]

Wow a whopping 3 major teams and a couple others in leagues nobody cares about with the shirt sponsor fly emirates. Got it. Some of you guys need to get out more (post covid)

I simply can't tell what team is what by looking at jerseys unless I try to stare at a dude's nipple for the tiny little badge. I don't like sponsor lettering being 20-times larger than the actual team or city identifier. If I bought a jersey to wear myself, I want to advertise my team and, perhaps, a player I like - not the corporate sponsor. It gets even weirder when teams change sponsors.

 

[mbar]

The league’s economic model is a shambles, they can’t make any money off fans. Their buildings sit empty.

I’m not going to cry about owners recouping a few pennies on uniform ads.


Ps- Soccer is a great sport.

 

[kingsboy11]

I simply can't tell what team is what by looking at jerseys unless I try to stare at a dude's nipple for the tiny little badge. I don't like sponsor lettering being 20-times larger than the actual team or city identifier. If I bought a jersey to wear myself, I want to advertise my team and, perhaps, a player I like - not the corporate sponsor. It gets even weirder when teams change sponsors.

In some case like this I agree with you.

I want to buy a Chelsea Christian Pulisic jersey, but this logo sucks so I won't.

Soccer teams have been doing this for decades and I'd say 90% of fans literally do not care. Sometimes fans will identify a team by the sponsor and what era that specific jersey is from because it was so iconic. I don't think the NHL will go this route with the sponsor logo taking up more real estate than the main logo and probably do what the NBA does with a small logo up near the shoulder. The point I'm trying to make is that this isn't the end of the world and all this hand wringing is just NHL fans not liking change

 

[King'sPawn]

Surely ads on jerseys and equipment will mean cheaper tickets to live events and lower costs at the arena, right? Oh, no? Just the rich getting richer? Oh, okay, cool, I'll just continue to f*** myself, thanks.

I look at it as growth for the league for me to watch more of. And to continue to take strides in growing in places where it's less popular.

 

[tny760]

Soccer teams have been doing this for decades and I'd say 90% of fans literally do not care. Sometimes fans will identify a team by the sponsor and what era that specific jersey is from because it was so iconic. I don't think the NHL will go this route with the sponsor logo taking up more real estate than the main logo and probably do what the NBA does with a small logo up near the shoulder. The point I'm trying to make is that this isn't the end of the world and all this hand wringing is just NHL fans not liking change

i'm not a big soccer fan any more but this made me think, first team that came to mind was man u and i looked up their kits and i was surprised to see a chevrolet logo, i thought they were still wearing the AIG and the AON i never even distinguished from the AIG one.. strange to think about. i guess i was literally that indifferent about it that it didn't even matter enough to recognize the update

i could really, really do without the helmet ads, i loathe them. but the NBA shoulder logos are pretty inoffensive

 

[DrHansReinhardt]

I will never buy Kings gear with corporate logos. The games in Europe are unwatchable with all the adds everywhere.

The 'owners' are worth over a hundred billion dollars collectively. They could run the league for a year with money from their couch cushions, the greedy bastards. Those leeches have made damn near a tril since covid started too boot so count me in the never accept ads on my sports team jerseys camp.

 

[KopitarFAN]

View attachment 380144

Quick breakdown:

18 of 35 in January/February/March against VGK, COL & STL.
15 of 21 in April/May against AZ, SJ & ANA

Could be tough getting out of the gate, but maybe it's like this for everybody so that STL/MIN can swing through and play 3 of LA/VGK/AZ/SJ/ANA at a time.