The Boston Bruins, the rest of the NHL, and the fans finally have some clarity and confirmation on the status of the 2020-21 season.
Yesterday, Dec. 8, 2020, more details came out about when the Boston Bruins and the rest of the NHL will start and how long their 2020-21 season will be.
Per Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, an NHL executive has confirmed that the 2020-21 NHL season will be starting Jan. 13, 2021. Additionally, the season length will be 56 games. Wyshynski released this information with the tweet below.
From an NHL team exec this monrning, FWIW: "NHL is season is starting Jan 13th. Confirmed last night. We are going to be playing 56 games."
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) December 8, 2020
Along with this tweet, Wyshynski and Emily Kaplan released an article (ESPN+ subscription required) that goes into further detail about the specifics of the upcoming season.
Although the article requires an ESPN+ subscription to fully read, Wyshynski was a nice guy and tweeted out some of the more important details that are included in the piece.
First, the NHL is still not set on whether they’ll be doing “hub” or “bubble” cities. And if the NHL does decide to do hubs, they are looking for certain criteria from the venue. Here are the criteria the NHL is looking for.
Something else to keep in mind: The @SanJoseSharks, @AnaheimDucks, @LAKings and @NHLJets could be at the mercy of local COVID restrictions and may have to play games out of market until conditions improve, if NHL opens on Jan. 13. Much more on ESPN+: https://t.co/mrUT3xvg8R pic.twitter.com/VNuuNKdDQy
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) December 8, 2020
As you can see, the NHL is considering Newark, New Jersey; Las Vegas, Nevada, and Columbus, Ohio options to be hub cities. However, Wyshynski also says that there is a chance the season’s start date gets pushed back a bit more if the NHL does decide to do hubs.
How does this affect the Boston Bruins?
With the season start date most likely being Jan. 13, both Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak will most likely miss some time at the beginning of the season.
Both had offseason surgeries — Marchand for a sports hernia and Pastrnak had a right hip arthroscopy and a labral fix. Marchand had his surgery on Sept. 14 and had an estimated recovery time of four months, while Pasta had his surgeries on Sept. 16 and had a recovery period of six months.
For Marchand, this means he should be back sometime in mid-January. With the original start date for the 2020-21 season being Jan. 1, this would’ve meant that Machy would miss at least a couple of weeks. Now, he may not miss any time or just a few days.
For Pasta, his estimated return was in mid-February. With the new start date being Jan. 13, this drops Pasta’s missed time down from a month and a half to just about a month.
So, the new start date benefits the Black and Gold.
Additionally, I would not be surprised to see that captain Zdeno Chara has signed a one-year extension within the next few days.
Chara and his agent made it clear that they want to stay with Boston but are waiting on the format and certainty of the 2020-21 season. With the length of the schedule and a Jan. 13 start date set, it’s only a matter of time before Chara is re-signed.
Regarding hub cities, if the NHL does in fact go with them, it looks like the B’s would be playing in the New Jersey Devils’ home of the Prudential Center.
The reported division realignments would put Boston in the East Division with the Devils, meaning they would share the same venue, which looks like it may be the Prudential Center.
However, the NHL is also exploring the idea of only holding outdoor games. If this is the case, we could see the Bruins playing games in a baseball stadium or football stadium more than once in 2021.
No matter where they play, every hockey fan is ecstatic that there will be a 2020-21 season.