The NHL will have a season! The NHL has announced that they will have a shortened season this year with new divisions to slow the spread of covid 19. These new divisions will keep teams in certain areas and have them only playing the teams within their division. The new format will be very exciting and should keep us very entertained. How will this divisional play among other things change this NHL season

The new divisions will keep certain teams on certain travel schedules like the all new Canadian division which will play exclusively in Canada until the playoffs. The new schedule will make the playoffs even more interesting since it will be the first time the teams will have met all season. Different teams will make it to the playoffs this year as a result of the different schedule since some divisions will be tougher than others. Will the Leafs finally make it past the first round of the playoffs? Only time will tell. The shorter 56 game season will be less grueling on players as well, so the playoffs could be even more fast paced this year. 

With the shortened season we may see new scoring leaders and top players. It will be interesting to see if Ovechkin can hold onto his scoring title with a shorter season. This season will also hurt Ovechkin’s chance to beat Wayne Gretzky’s goal scoring record. Ovechkin needs to score an average of 36 goals a season for the next 7 seasons to catch the great one. Some divisions this year look like hard divisions to play in like the Metropolitan and Atlantic division which both hold very strong teams. The Atlantic looks like it will be a strong division because of its many well rounded teams with good core players and many young talents. All the divisions will be hard to play in but these ones seem extra difficult. 

The Bruins could suffer this season with the loss of their top scorer David Pastrnak who tied Ovechkin last year for the most goals scored. Pastrnak will miss part of the season recovering from hip surgery. Hopefully he has a swift recovery and is playing again soon. Pastrnak is set to be playing in february Each team will be playing other teams in their division this season almost 10 times. New rivalries could form and old rivalries like the ,battle of Alberta, could flourish. NHL.com states that “Each team in the East, Central and West divisions will play every other team in its division eight times, and each team in the North Division (Canada teams) will play every other team in its division nine or 10 times.” Theres no doubt that Mattew Tkachuk and Zack Kassian will be mixing it up this season in the 10 games that they see each other, and who does not want to see that?

This year will be a test on both the players and the fans won’t get to see some of the matchups that we know and love, however we may see new ones flourish. There will be many awesome moments in this new season that we are very excited for. Hopefully we can stop the spread of covid 19 and get back to our normal seasons. Until then we will enjoy the NHL as we always have.