BUFFALO, N.Y. — The NHL and the NHLPA have come to an agreement to play the 2021 season. There are still things to work out, especially with the provincial governments in Canada.
The NHL is still talking to Ontario and Quebec, but there is a real worry that they won’t be able to convince British Columbia to allow the Vancouver Canucks to play there.
Since it’s an all Canadian division, the NHL would have to find a city north of the border for the Canucks to play in. The city that makes the most sense is Hamilton, Ontario. Hamilton has been very close to landing an NHL franchise, but objections from the Leafs and Sabres have prevented it from happening.
One of the most iconic goals in hockey history was scored in Hamilton winning the 1987 Canada Cup for Canada. Former Sabre, the late Dale Hawerchuk won the faceoff and got the puck up ice to Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky to get the Cup winning goal started.
In this case, Toronto and Buffalo would just have to accept a team playing there if it means getting the season played.
The Sabres would be able to start training camp on New Years Eve with players looking for 23 roster spots and four-to-six taxi squad positions. Every team is required to have three goaltenders between the two squads.
Many teams are very tight up against the salary cap so the NHL is going to have to be very diligent that some of the players that opt out, aren’t doing it to help their team’s salary cap status.
I’m sure the players are very happy to be playing, but it is going to be boring. The only teams the Sabres will be playing are in their division, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, New Jersey, the New York Islanders and the New York Rangers.
On the road, players will not be able to leave their hotels. All meals will be at the hotel, so the only time the players will leave is to go to the arena. Nobody will be allowed in the hotel to visit the players.
This is how I see the Sabres roster breaking down:
Hall Eichel Reinhart
Skinner Staal Cozens
Olofsson Eakin Thompson
Girgensons Lazar Okposo
Rieder Mittelstadt Ruotsalainen
Quinn Asplund Oglevie
Dahlin Ristolainen
McCabe Jokiharju
Irwin Montour
Miller Borgen
Ullmark Hutton Tokarski
Some of the key dates for the NHL season are,
Regular season will be over by May 8
The Seattle expansion draft is July 21
The NHL Draft is July 23-24
NHL Free Agency is July 28