2021 NHL Schedule

[Pengwin7]

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-2020-21...es/c-319867218

Here are the critical dates for the upcoming season:

Dec. 31: Training camps open for seven teams that did not participate in the Return to Play Plan for the 2019-20 season (Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks).

Jan. 3, 2021: Training camps open for the remaining 24 NHL teams.

Jan. 13: Regular season begins. Each of the eight teams in the East, Central and West divisions will play every other team in its division eight times, and each team in the North Division (seven teams based in Canada) will play every other team in its division nine or 10 times.

April 12: NHL Trade Deadline (3 p.m. ET).

May 8: End of regular season.

May 11*: Stanley Cup Playoffs begin. The top four teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs. The first two rounds will be intradivisional, with the first-place team playing the fourth-place team and the second-place team facing the third-place team in the first round. The four teams that advance from the second round to the Semifinal Round will be seeded by their points total in the regular season (No. 1 vs. No. 4; No. 2 vs. No. 3).

July 9*: Last possible day of Stanley Cup Final.

July 17: Deadline for teams to submit protected lists for 2021 NHL Expansion Draft (5 p.m. ET).

July 21: 2021 NHL Expansion Draft (8 p.m. ET).

July 23: First round of 2021 NHL Draft.

July 24: Rounds 2-7 of 2021 NHL Draft.

July 28: Restricted free agent/unrestricted free agent signing period begins (12 p.m. ET).

[butch]

at quick glance , the isles sked has 1 stretch of 4 days off . the rest is loaded to the hilt

[Dr.Brad]

Whole schedule is weird this year - ARI and VGK play 4 games in a row, games 3-4-5-6 of the year. Mini-series to start the season!

[Eskimo Brother]

For anyone that wants my usual schedule layout for weekly H2H league use, here it is:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...t?usp=drivesdk

[tobias]

For anyone that wants my usual schedule layout for weekly H2H league use, here it is:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...t?usp=drivesdk

That's awesome. Thank you.

[Whiteheat]

For anyone that wants my usual schedule layout for weekly H2H league use, here it is:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...t?usp=drivesdk

Thanks very much. You put a lot of work into this.

[hockeyrobot]

For anyone that wants my usual schedule layout for weekly H2H league use, here it is:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...t?usp=drivesdk

I need to bookmark this and come back to it when I'm not at work. Doc is blocked for me.

[hockeyrobot]

Whoever decided on last night and tonight's schedule is punishing us. One game last night. 13 tonight.

[2014olympicgold]

Whoever decided on last night and tonight's schedule is punishing us. One game last night. 13 tonight.

And 2 tmo.

[Hoopo]

I've also noticed Saturday's schedule seemed lighter than a lot of weekdays

This year is going to be challenging. I'm also getting increasingly worried how this is going to play out. How many games can realistically be postponed before it becomes a major problem in terms of scheduling? We already have such a tight schedule with teams playing every other day. I expect we could see increased injury issues, not to mention what might happen if COVID hits the league harder than it has already.

what a weird year

[hockeyrobot]

I've also noticed Saturday's schedule seemed lighter than a lot of weekdays

This year is going to be challenging. I'm also getting increasingly worried how this is going to play out. How many games can realistically be postponed before it becomes a major problem in terms of scheduling? We already have such a tight schedule with teams playing every other day. I expect we could see increased injury issues, not to mention what might happen if COVID hits the league harder than it has already.

what a weird year

It's already been said that if teams are in playoff contention and can't finish their season it will go to Points/Game percentage. So that tells me they're ok if some teams don't play the full slate.

[2014olympicgold]

I think the reason why we are now seeing rescheduled games 2 weeks into the season is because of the amount of games that are needed to be rescheduled.

I think the plan was to hopefully only need to extend the season by a couple of weeks instead of rescheduling games mid-season.

[tweetdrivr]

It's already been said that if teams are in playoff contention and can't finish their season it will go to Points/Game percentage. So that tells me they're ok if some teams don't play the full slate.

Not true. The NHL has punted this and said TBD if it becomes needed. Good article on it at the Athletic recenlty.

[chuckcouples]

It's already been said that if teams are in playoff contention and can't finish their season it will go to Points/Game percentage. So that tells me they're ok if some teams don't play the full slate.

This has been assumed but the NHL has not actually said this. My guess is that they are reserving the right to change the rules to make sure they get the TV markets that they want into the playoffs just like last year.

[GinFizz]

I wonder if they will go to a "baseball like" schedule next year where they play 1-2 teams a week with a 3 game schedule. It will greatly reduce travel for teams.