Denver Native (Carol)
11-10-2020, 08:59 PM
The NHL is considering a temporary realignment of its teams for the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, according to commissioner Gary Bettman.
Bettman said Tuesday that restrictions on travel across the Canadian border, as well as "limitations in terms of quarantining when you go from certain states to other states" within the United States, could mean the NHL creates a more regionalized alignment for its upcoming season.
"As it relates to the travel issue, which is obviously the great unknown, we may have to temporarily realign to deal with geography, because having some of our teams travel from Florida to California may not make sense. It may be that we're better off -- particularly if we're playing a reduced schedule, which we're contemplating -- keeping it geographically centric and more divisional-based; and realigning, again on a temporary basis, to deal with the travel issues," Bettman said during a 2020 Paley International Council Summit panel with fellow commissioners Adam Silver of the NBA and Rob Manfred of MLB.
rest - https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/30293981/realignment-potential-another-hub-model-table-nhl-commissioner-gary-bettman-says
Bettman said Tuesday that restrictions on travel across the Canadian border, as well as "limitations in terms of quarantining when you go from certain states to other states" within the United States, could mean the NHL creates a more regionalized alignment for its upcoming season.
"As it relates to the travel issue, which is obviously the great unknown, we may have to temporarily realign to deal with geography, because having some of our teams travel from Florida to California may not make sense. It may be that we're better off -- particularly if we're playing a reduced schedule, which we're contemplating -- keeping it geographically centric and more divisional-based; and realigning, again on a temporary basis, to deal with the travel issues," Bettman said during a 2020 Paley International Council Summit panel with fellow commissioners Adam Silver of the NBA and Rob Manfred of MLB.
rest - https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/30293981/realignment-potential-another-hub-model-table-nhl-commissioner-gary-bettman-says