Vegas owner Bill Foley generated a lot of headlines Wednesday, when he told a radio interviewer that the 2020-21 NHL season might not begin until Feb. 1 -- a month after the league's announced target date -- and might consist of only "48 or 56" games.
Grim as that outlook might seem, it's considerably better than dire threat facing the American Hockey League, which is far from certain that it even will have a season.
If the AHL would have to take the winter off, it would have a profound impact on NHL teams, whose prospects would be denied valuable developmental time and which would not be able to have players game-ready if they are needed by the parent club.
Jim Rutherford downplayed the possibility of the AHL staying shuttered if the NHL is active -- "I would suspect that when the NHL's playing, the AHL is going to play," he said -- but acknowledged that such a scenario could cause problems at his level.
The NHL has not said how it would deal with an AHL shutdown, but one possibility would be to allow teams to carry a "taxi squad" of players who could train with the NHL team but would not count against the salary-cap ceiling of $81.5 million unless they are activated and placed on the 23-man roster.
"Our roster size would have to be expanded," Rutherford said. "And then you'd have to go with a taxi squad. That's not ideal, because you have young guys who you want to be playing games. That's how they get better."
For now, though, he isn't going to focus on matters that may or may not become a significant issue in a few months.
"I'm not going to get too far ahead of myself, because I hope the whole world is in a better place come January, as far as dealing with the virus," he said. "And we can play."
• Ottawa made some high-profile personnel moves lately, including trading for Matt Murray, signing free-agent forward Evgenii Dadonov Thursday and selecting two of the top five prospects in the NHL Draft. The Senators, though, had another acquisition that didn't seem to get a lot of attention, but could provide a nice piece of their rebuilding puzzle. They sent a fourth-round draft choice in 2021 to Nashville for blue-collar winger Austin Watson, who is an excellent forechecker, an enthusiastic hitter and shot-blocker and a good penalty-killer. Watson is the kind of bottom-six forward the Penguins like and, because the pick that went to the Predators actually started as Colorado's, the Penguins' fourth-rounder might have been more attractive to Nashville because the Avalanche seems likely to finish high in the standings next season. The Penguins, though, might have balked at taking on Watson's $1.5 million salary-cap hit which, while relatively modest, would have consumed most of their remaining cap space.
• Steve Yzerman's fingerprints were all over the Cup Tampa Bay won last month because of moves he oversaw while GM of the Lightning, even though he spent the past year-plus as GM in Detroit. And while the Red Wings won't be contending for a championship anytime soon, Yzerman has done a nice job of collecting players who could be turned into other assets at the 2021 trade deadline, as teams try to bolster their lineups for the stretch drive and playoffs. It seems certain that there will be a market for the likes of Bobby Ryan, Marc Staal and Jon Merrill as the end of the regular season comes into sight.
• Four of the past five Cup winners have come out of the Eastern Conference, but the arms race that's gone on between Vegas and Colorado means that there could be an epic battle for supremacy in the West next season -- and tthe team that emerges might well be established as the favorite to claim the title. The Golden Knights brought in defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, the headliner in this year's class of free agents, while Colorado picked up Brandon Saad and Devon Toews, among others. Much can change as a season plays out, of course, but a Vegas-Colorado collision in the next postseason looks almost inevitable. It has the potential to be wildly entertaining, too.
• Foley floated the possibility of a divisional realignment in 2020-21 because of the pandemic, with all teams based in Canada lumped together because of restrictions that country has placed on people crossing its border, most notably a mandatory 14-day quarantine. And while a all-Canadian division might appeal, on some levels, it's worth considering the complications that could cause. The most obvious is that teams would be spread across four time zones, with Vancouver on the west coast and Montreal about 2,300 air miles away in the province of Quebec. Not having to clear Customs during the regular season would be a plus, but those frequent cross-continent trips could lose their charm pretty quickly.
• Although free agency has been going on for nearly a week, there are still some fairly big names who are looking for a team. Among the most prominent players on that list are forwards Mike Hoffman, Mikael Granlund and Carl Soderberg and defensemen Andy Greene, Sami Vatanen and Cody Ceci.
• Boston still hasn't replaced offensive defenseman Torey Krug, who signed with St. Louis as a free agent, so until that void is filled, it's difficult to suggest that the Bruins could be improved next season. Especially when forwards Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak are expected to miss the start of the season while recovering from surgery. The Bruins did, however, make what could be an excellent free-agent signing of their own, when they got winger Craig Smith, late of Nashville, to accept a three-year deal with a cap hit of $3 million. He scored 25 goals for the Predators in 2017-18 and, if he can shake the inconsistency that has been an issue for much of his career, could secure a spot as a top-six contributor with Boston.
• Might be worth keeping an eye on Chicago in coming weeks and months, more for what could happen off the ice than on it. Veteran players there, most notably captain Jonathan Toews, clearly were blindsided by management's decision to take on something of a rebuild, with the Saad trade as Exhibit A, along with the decision to not re-sign goalie Corey Crawford. The Blackhawks won Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015 and the front office apparently concluded that the roster in place when Chicago's playoff run ended did not have the potential to develop into a contender. Correct or otherwise, that determination could reverberate through the organization for quite a while.
• Tom Fitzgerald, who succeeded his mentor, Ray Shero, as GM in New Jersey, has a huge challenge in trying to construct a contender in Newark, but has helped the Devils take several significant steps toward reviving the franchise in recent days. He signed Corey Crawford as a free agent and acquired defenseman Ryan Murray (Columbus) and forward Andreas Johnsson in trades. What's more, the Devils had three first-round draft choices. None likely will be counted on to provide immediate help, but all could have a place in the Devils' future. Fitzgerald, of course, was an assistant GM with the Penguins before following Shero to New Jersey.
• Must be that stagnant cap ceiling that we've heard so much about, but Alex Galchenyuk is still available to be signed by any team that decides it needs what he brings. Whatever that might be.