NHL wants 'normal' 2021-2022 season schedule

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN's Emily Kaplan on Thursday that the league wants to return to a normal regular-season schedule for the 2021-22 campaign. 

Figuring out an upcoming season destined to be altered by the worsening coronavirus pandemic is still proving to be a challenge heading into November.

"We're still taking the time we have to drill down and get to what we consider our best strategy to be," Daly explained. "I know the world and the media would like a little more certainty. I wish I could provide it. I'd like a little more certainty. But we don't have it."

The league's tentative start date for a 2020-21 season is Jan. 1, but the NHL and NHL Players' Association haven't yet announced a formal agreement for a return to play. American Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League seasons won't begin until February at the earliest. 

A major difficulty impacting hockey competitions is the continued closure of the border that divides Canada and the United States to non-essential travel for the foreseeable future. This past summer, the Canadian government banned the Toronto Blue Jays and NHL clubs from traveling back and forth between the countries for games.

"Obviously, it factors into how we have to plan for the 2020-21 season," Daly said of the border situation. "And it will factor in. If it remains exceedingly difficult to travel teams to and from Canada, as I think we've been very clear, one possibility is to create competition within the league among the Canadian clubs."

Daly also poured cold water over the notion the Summer Olympics, postponed to 2021 because of the health crisis, could affect the NHL schedule since both properties have a broadcast partnership with NBC. 

"I think there is some flexibility if we were to choose that route," he said. "There's a lot left to be played out on the Olympics front, too. So I would just throw that in — we clearly have models that extend past the Olympic time period. Those are alternatives that are on the table. I can't tell you they're the ones that are necessarily going to be pursued, but I think there's some flexibility there."