NHL reaches tentative agreement for 2020-21 season

There’s no need to ask Santa Claus for hockey’s return. That gift was delivered Friday.

The NHL and NHL Players’ Association reached a tentative agreement on the protocols for the 2020-21 season, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed.

The executive board of the NHLPA was scheduled to hold a conference call Friday night, while the league’s Board of Governors was expected to meet this weekend.

“We have a tentative agreement with the Players’ Association on plans for the 2020-21 NHL season,” Daly wrote in an email to the Review-Journal. “The agreement is subject to approval by both of our respective constituencies.”

Both sides must vote to ratify the guidelines for a 56-game regular season that is tentatively scheduled to begin Jan. 13, Sportsnet and TSN reported.

The Golden Knights would begin training camp Jan. 3, while the seven teams that did not qualify for the playoffs last season will open Dec. 31. There will be no exhibition games, according to Sportsnet and TSN’s reports.

“At this stage of my career, I don’t get too optimistic until things really get set in stone,” Knights forward Max Pacioretty said Tuesday. “Obviously it looks like we’re going to play, but it’s just a matter of when.”

Several details of the agreement need to be resolved, including whether games will take place in home arenas and if fans will be allowed to attend.

The league has yet to clear up issues with Canada’s health officials over a seven-team, all-Canadian division, which could push back the scheduled start dates.

“The resumption of sports events in Canada must be undertaken in adherence to Canada’s measures to mitigate the importation and spread of COVID-19,” the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement Thursday. “NHL teams and other professional sports must operate within the rules of their provincial jurisdictions for sports or sporting events.”

The Knights are expected to play in a realigned Pacific Division with holdovers Anaheim, Arizona, Los Angeles and San Jose, along with three teams from the Central Division. Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota and St. Louis are the most likely candidates.

Sportsnet reported that the playoffs will consist of the top four teams in each division, with the champion advancing to the Stanley Cup semifinals.

“I think everybody’s looking forward to get going,” Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said Tuesday. “It seems like we’re on track to start, too.”

The league and players’ association previously agreed to the economic framework from the collective bargaining agreement that was ratified in July.

That includes an $81.5 million salary cap along with a 23-player roster. According to reports, the season will include a four- to six-player taxi squad that will practice and travel with the NHL club.

Similar to the protocols for the return to play in August, players can opt out of the season for reasons related to COVID-19.

“It’s been a crazy set of circumstances both in the hockey world but more importantly in the world,” Knights coach Pete DeBoer said Tuesday. “I’m glad that there’s hockey on the horizon. I’m glad that there’s a vaccine on the horizon. … Keep our fingers crossed that we can keep moving in the right direction.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.