The NHL is considering a number of adjustments to make to the 2020-21 season to create safer conditions for players and staff during the coronavirus pandemic.
The NHL is still officially targeting a Jan. 1 start to the season, although that date could still be pushed back.
Gary Bettman, speaking to the 2020 Paley International Council Summit on Tuesday, said that a strict bubble like the NHL used in the 2020 postseason won't be used for the entire season. Instead, the league is looking into short-term hubs and temporary divisional realignments to reduce travel next season.
Bettman hinted at an all-Canadian division for next season, citing the inability to freely cross the U.S.-Canadian border.
"Obviously, we're not going to move all seven Canadian franchises south of the 49th Parallel, and so we have to look at alternative ways to play," Bettman said. "And while crossing the U.S.-Canadian border is an issue, we're also seeing within the United States limitations in terms of quarantining when you go from certain states to other states. It's again part of having to be flexible."
Within the U.S., the remaining 24 teams may temporary re-align into divisions based on geography in an effort to reduce travel.
"As it relates to the travel issue, which is obviously the great unknown, we may have to temporarily realign to deal with geography, and that may make sense, because having some of our teams travel from Florida to California may not make sense," he said. "It may be that we're better off, particularly if we're playing a reduced schedule, which we're contemplating, keeping it geographically centric, more divisional based, and realigning, again on a temporary basis, to deal with the travel issues."
Within those divisions, teams could play in a hybrid hub city format where a group of teams could play a series of games in one city before returning home for a break.
"You'll play for 10 to 12 days," said Bettman. "You'll play a bunch of games without traveling. You'll go back, go home for a week, be with your family. We'll have our testing protocols and all the other things you need. "It's not going to be quite as effective as a bubble, but we think we can, if we go this route, minimize the risks to the extent practical and sensible. And so that's one of the things that we're talking about."
Whatever route the NHL goes next season, it'll almost certainly be a reduced schedule with the goal of getting back to a traditional October-June schedule for the 2021-22 season. The NHL would ideally finish next season before the summer Olympics begin July 23, to avoid running into broadcasting issues with the league's main U.S. rightsholder, NBC sports.
"While we're in the middle of working on our return to play as well, which I hope to have put to bed soon, our goal is to get back to a normal schedule starting [next] fall and being done before July on a longer-term basis," Bettman said. "That is the goal."