NHL 2021 Season Preview
What a challenging time it has been for everyone on the planet due to the global pandemic we are all forced to live in and deal with, and it has also caused havoc for many organizations too including sports leagues. The 2019-2020 NHL season ended prematurely with teams playing anywhere from 68 to 71 regular-season games before the shut down occurring in mid-March, then we saw the league start back up to do a play-in round for 16 teams where the 8 winners advanced to regular playoff rounds and the Stanley Cup was eventually awarded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in late September. What a whirlwind! The offseason is now well underway and plans for the 2021 season are getting ironed out between the owners and players with a return to play to likely come early next year in January.
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Insights into the NHL Offseason Thus Far
There has been a ton of activity since early October when the offseason officially began with the NHL draft taking place and free agency now live for almost two months with lots of UFA signings and trades being made.
The New York Rangers are arguably the biggest winners of the offseason as they luckily won the draft lottery after finishing 18th in the overall standings and losing in the play-in round to get the honor of picking Alex Lafreniere 1st overall – building off their 2nd overall pick in 2019 when they selected Kaapo Kakko. It’s safe to say that the Rangers are well on their way towards becoming an elite team again in the not too distant future, especially after signing superstar left winger Artemi Panarin last year in 2019 as a UFA.
Rounding out the top 10 selections in the 2020 NHL draft:
- 2nd overall pick by the Los Angeles Kings, center – Quinton Byfield
- 3rd overall pick by the Ottawa Senators, left wing – Tim Stuetzle
- 4th overall pick by the Detroit Red Wings, left wing – Lucas Raymond
- 5th overall pick by the Ottawa Senators, defense – Jake Sanderson
- 6th overall pick by the Anaheim Ducks, defense – Jamie Drysdale
- 7th overall pick by the New Jersey Devils, right wing – Alexander Holtz
- 8th overall pick by the Buffalo Sabres, right wing – Jack Quinn
- 9th overall pick by the Minnesota Wild, center – Marco Rossi
- 10th overall pick by the Winnipeg Jets, center – Cole Perfetti
The Ottawa Senators AND the New Jersey Devils each had three, I repeat three first-round picks in the 2020 NHL draft at 3rd, 5th, and 28th overall for Ottawa, and at 7th, 18th, and 20th overall for New Jersey. The New York Rangers had two first-round picks to take advantage of – the teams with no first-round picks to announce include the Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders, Dallas Stars, and the Arizona Coyotes.
Notable trades in the 2020 NHL offseason:
– The Winnipeg Jets acquired Paul Stastny from the Las Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Carl Dahlstrom and a conditional 4th round pick in 2022.
– The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Joey Anderson from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Andreas Johnsson.
– The Vancouver Canucks acquired Nate Schmidt from the Las Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for a 3rd round pick in 2022.
– The Colorado Avalanche acquired Devon Toews from the New York Islanders in exchange for 2nd round picks in both 2020 and 2021.
– The Colorado Avalanche acquired Brandon Saad and a prospect from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Nikita Zadorov and a prospect.
– The Ottawa Senators acquired Matt Murray from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a prospect and a 2nd round pick in 2020.
– The Los Angeles Kings acquired Olli Maatta from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a prospect.
– The Florida Panthers acquired Patric Hornqvist from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Mike Matheson and Colton Sceviour.
– The Buffalo Sabres acquired Eric Staal from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Marcus Johansen.
– The Montreal Canadiens acquired Jake Allen and a 7th round pick in 2022 from the St.Louis Blues in exchange for a 3rd and 7th round pick in 2020.
Key UFA signings in the 2020 NHL offseason:
– Alex Pietrangelo signed a 7 year deal with the Las Vegas Golden Knights
– Torey Krug signed a 7 year deal with the St.Louis Blues
– Taylor Hall signed a 1 year deal with the Buffalo Sabres
– TJ Brodie signed a 4 year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Leafs also signed Wayne Simmonds and Joe Thornton to 1-year deals
– Jacob Markstrom signed a 6 year deal with the Calgary Flames and the Flames also signed Christopher Tanev to a 4-year deal
– Tyler Toffoli signed a 4 year deal with the Montreal Canadiens
– Corey Crawford signed a 2 year deal with the New Jersey Devils
– Henrik Lundqvist signed a 1 year deal with the Washington Capitals and the Capitals also signed Justin Schultz
– Evgenii Dadonov signed a 3 year deal with the Ottawa Senators
– Kevin Shattenkirk signed a 3 year deal with the Anaheim Ducks
– Craig Smith signed a 3 year deal with the Boston Bruins
– Kyle Turris signed a 2 year deal with the Edmonton Oilers and the Oilers also signed Tyson Barrie to a 1-year deal
– Cam Talbot signed a 3 year deal with the Minnesota Wild
– Erik Gustafsson signed a 1 year deal with the Philadelphia Flyers
Speculating on What the NHL’s 2021 Season May Look Like
- There has been a lot of talk in the past few days from some of the NHL’s top insiders claiming that they are hearing that the NHL is penciling in January 13th for a start date to the 2021 season, with only 56 games to be played for the campaign. I expect that within the next week or so we should have a firm date, and the number of regular-season games will be fully confirmed along with other important details.
- Word is that there will be a 2-week training camp for play-in/playoff teams on January 3rd, 2021, and a few more days than that for teams that failed to qualify for the play-in/playoffs last season – just 7 teams in all.
- With travel between the U.S. and Canada being a major issue for the 2021 season due to the pandemic self-isolation laws in place in Canada, the NHL may create an all-Canadian division for the first portion of the 2021 season. The remaining 24 U.S. teams would be split into divisions of 8. Potentially four bubble cities or more may be used early on, but the NHL would much prefer each team to play in their own home city.
- The newly proposed four divisions are as follows: 1- Boston, Buffalo, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington. 2 – Carolina, Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Florida, Minnesota, Nashville, and Tampa Bay. 3 – Anaheim, Arizona, Colorado, Dallas, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Jose, and St. Louis. 4 – Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg.
- It’s unknown if there will be no fans or a limited number allowed when the 2021 NHL season opens up. My guess is that we will start out with no fans for opening day but as vaccines become available and the number of COVID-19 cases ideally go down, then perhaps towards the end of the regular season or playoffs, we will see a reduced number of fans allowed back into arenas.
- There is so much uncertainty at this point with many variables playing a part in how the 2021 NHL season will look from start to finish.
Random Thoughts and Questions We Await Answers to
- Will Taylor Hall have a big year on his one year contract in Buffalo? Will Taylor Hall and Jack Eichel play together on a line or will there not be enough puck to go around for those two guys who both love to have the puck on their stick?
- Will Alex Ovechkin have another healthy and highly successful scoring season and continue his chase to potentially catch Wayne Gretzky in goals?
- Will John Carlson run away with the lead in defense scoring again?
- Will Connor McDavid get back the scoring title after losing it the last two seasons to Nikita Kucherov (2018-2019) and Leon Draisaitl (2019-2020)? Or, will someone different steal the scoring title again this year, like Toronto’s Auston Matthews, Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, New York’s Artemi Panarin, or will there be some other completely unexpected scoring leader like the years when Jarome Iginla and Martin St.Louis lead the league?
- Will Boston struggle in the standings with David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand potentially missing the start of the season?
- Which non-playoff teams from last year will make the playoffs this year?
- Will older players from non-playoff teams benefit from the 9 month rest or will they be a step slower and show their age more after the extended break?
- Which players and teams will benefit from divisional changes, and which teams will suffer as a result? Will Toronto win the potential all-Canadian division, will Vancouver surge to the top, or will the improved Montreal Canadiens surprise everyone and steal the top spot in that division?
- Will league fighting and penalty minutes be up because of the potential all Canadian division?
- What team will sign Mike Hoffman and where will the other significant unrestricted free agents go to when they finally put pen to paper?
Despite the global pandemic taking its toll on the NHL since mid-March, we still got to enjoy a full playoff experience, the offseason has been busy with lots of player signings and trades, we had a virtual draft but other than that it consisted of a normal selection format, and now we await to see what’s ahead for the 2021 season. I got a lot of respect for how the NHL has dealt with everything – they have taken their time and gotten most everything right in my opinion. I will be disappointed if we don’t see a full 82 game regular-season schedule for the 2021 season, especially considering I have the 1st overall selection in my hockey pool draft and I want to enjoy Connor McDavid for 82 games, but I understand if it will be reduced to under 60 games, especially since everyone wants a normal 2021-2022 season starting in October 2021 with the brand new Seattle Kraken franchise entering the league.
These are some very tough times across planet Earth, so we just have to be happy and thankful with whatever we get from NHL play for now. I hope you and your family have stayed safe and healthy throughout the pandemic, and wish you and yours all the best for the upcoming holiday season!
