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In case you missed it, late yesterday the NHL and NHLPA agreed to a preliminary plan for the 2021 NHL season. Details are still pending, but we do have enough information to get a general idea of how this will impact teams and players. Some of these details we knew, some we did not. As per usual, I have some thoughts.

1. The start date is targeted for January 13, which is less than a month away. Camps would open on January 3 for most teams. That gives them 10 days, with no preseason games, to get in game shape and ready for the real thing. That is obviously less than ideal, and I’d expect a lot of soft tissue injuries like muscle pulls/strains in the early going.

2. The players don’t get paid for preseason games, so that’s a win for them. Also a win for them is no prorated salaries, so they get their full paychecks. I’m not really crying for billionaire owners, but I wonder how they will make up the difference. There won’t be fans in the stands to start, so it’s all online merchandise and TV revenue. The reverse retro jerseys were clearly a money grab, and you can’t really blame them.

3. The plan is for a 56 game season, which will need to end by July 15 for NBC’s Summer Olympics commitment. If you assume eight weeks for the playoffs, that’s around May 20 for the playoffs to begin. That’s about 18 weeks for the regular season, averaging out to three games a week. That’s very doable, and quite honestly the best case scenario for the players. The soft tissue injuries mentioned above may be mitigated by a less condensed schedule.

4. There will be no expanded rosters, but there will be a taxi squad of 4-6 players. For all intents and purposes, these are AHL players that will travel and practice with the NHL team. They get AHL salaries and are subject to waivers. I don’t think the Rangers will subject their rookies to this, so expect players like Anthony Bitetto, Colin Blackwell, and players of that ilk to be on the taxi squad.

5. Expanding on that, this is a weird year for prospects. It seems like any prospect that doesn’t break camp won’t even get a call up this year because the taxi squad is already there. Then again, Hartford isn’t far from any place in the temporary divisions, so maybe that’s just me overthinking it.

6. Tolling contracts is interesting. I’m unsure of the legal terms in a standard player contract, but it certainly is a win for players to be able to forego getting paid this season and not lose a year on their contract. I wonder if there is a way for player and team to avoid that? There seems to be a loophole where a player can opt-out, get placed on LTIR, get paid, and the team gets the cap space. Again, I could be overthinking that.

7. The Rangers have a brutal division, with Boston, Buffalo, the Devils, the Islanders, Philly, Pittsburgh, and Washington. Getting Buffalo in the division is good, but adding Boston is rough. I’m not overly high on the Rangers this year, and the division has a lot to do with it. The Rangers should finish ahead of Buffalo and the Devils…but that’s it. They need so many things to go right all at once for them to surprise people. It’s doable and possible, but I don’t think it will happen.

8. The 2021 NHL season plan is making the best of a bad situation. It isn’t perfect, and there will be some legit gripes. However with a new TV contract coming and no other revenue coming in, getting the season going was a must.

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