The Penguins were rumored to be in the Central Division and then placed back with the teams they usually share a division with. Now? Who knows? The entire thing might be blown up again.
Sources: The NHL could move games involving Canadian teams to the United States in 2021 if its unable to reach agreement with provincial health authorities.https://t.co/bcdciuQBZs
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) December 17, 2020
The all Canadian team division may never come to fruition.
However, that plan requires approval from health authorities in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia and it’s believed to have met some opposition. The government prefers the bubble setup the NHL used for its summer return-to-play in Edmonton and Toronto, according to sources, but the league doesn’t believe it’s feasible to recreate that for an entire season.At a time when COVID-19 cases are rising across the country the provincial health authorities need to be comfortable with the NHL’s protocols, which are still being formulated and finalized with the NHL Players’ Association.
I can’t blame the Canadian health authorities for being skeptical. They have to do what they feel is right for the Canadian population, not the NHL.
As far as the on-ice impact, I think it will help balance the divisions again. The Canadian Division is a great novelty on the surface. Also, it is the worst division and makes all the other divisions more difficult for teams to make the playoffs. You have a bunch of franchises in the Canadian Division who haven’t won anything of significance since 1993 with many of them nowhere close to changing that trend. They've only had five teams even make the Cup Final in that time period.
It was a garbage division as far as the on-ice product is concerned. The Oilers finished with the most standings points last year and it was only good for 12th overall in the league.
The NHL is trying to start playing games in less than a month. It doesn’t even know what country seven of their teams are playing in. Who knows where we go from here.
Thanks for reading!