It is "likely" that the start of the NHL's next season will be "pushed back to, at the very earliest, early January," according to sources cited by Scott Burnside of THE ATHLETIC. Even that is "marked by a host of qualifiers," and the "sobering reality" for the league is that its return to play in Edmonton and Toronto was a "walk in the park compared to what comes next." Early in the return-to-play proceedings the NHL and NHLPA "tentatively penciled in a Nov. 17 start for training camp and a Dec. 1 start date for a traditional 82-game schedule." But NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly on the "Two Man Advantage" podcast admitted that "those dates were in essence very fluid." The NHLPA is in the process of "identifying a new committee of players that will work through the issues surrounding a return to play." Sources indicated that the committee "will be struck shortly and the two sides will pivot very quickly to address next season with remote meetings possibly beginning as early as next week." Several team execs "suggested the bubble idea might work as a stop-gap until fans are allowed back," but Daly "made it clear that going into a bubble setting for an entire season isn’t doable." There also is "no indication" when the Canada-U.S. border might open (THEATHLETIC.com, 9/18).
