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          Planning the ideal 2020-21 NHL season: Schedule, divisions, playoff bracket, standings and more

          Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images
          • Greg WyshynskiNov 19, 2020, 10:45 AM ET
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              Greg Wyshynski is ESPN's senior NHL writer.
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          The National Hockey League is not exactly known for its ingenuity.

          Its most successful invention in the past 15 years was "a hockey game, but outside." They moved from 5-on-5 overtime to 4-on-4 overtime, added a shootout, realized the shootout was terrible, and the solution was 3-on-3 hockey. Again, not exactly reinventing the wheel here.

          But when faced with an unprecedented crisis in their 2019-20 campaign, having to shut it down for COVID-19, it was ingenuity that saved the season. The summer restart ran so smoothly that we've taken for granted how the NHL and the players figured out the two-hub plan, expansion of the playoffs, all-day schedules of games and the like while also negotiating a collective bargaining agreement that addressed the economic calamity in the months and years ahead.

          The 2020-21 season demands that same spirit of ingenuity, and even more of it. The owners and players will have to navigate more choppy financial waters, as NHL teams want further salary deferments while the players believe they already gave at the office, aka addressed this in the just-settled CBA.

          (For the record, I think the players end up capitulating here. They want to play. If the owners don't get that deferral, some of the ones on the fence about playing at all could tumble to the other side of the issue. We'll start to hear the word "lockout" a bit more. You never want to hear the word "lockout.")

          After the financial issues are settled, there needs to be an ingenious approach to the 2020-21 season. How many games should they play? Where should they play them? What happens in the playoffs?

          I have some thoughts, and I have an ideal 2020-21 sketched out here. Keep in mind that the best-laid plans for all involved hang in the balance of spiking COVID-19 rates. These plans detailed here involve games being played in home arenas and a schedule that, while nimble, isn't yet derailed by coronavirus-related postponements. As NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is fond of saying, we probably don't finish the season in the same manner in which we start it. But for starters, here's my plan for the 2020-21 NHL season.

          Games

          One of my basic disagreements with Mr. Bettman is regarding playoff expansion. It's not just that 16 postseason teams, in what will be a 32-team league by 2021-22, is far too few on a percentage basis, or that a successful venture like the NBA has the foresight to understand the financial and competitive virtues of play-in rounds. It's that the more meaningful the games, the better for the sport, and cutting down an elephantine 82-game regular season while increasing the number of postseason games would make for a better product.

          As it stands, the NHL is like an action movie that spends most of its running time on exposition rather than exhilaration. It's basically Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

          But it's also better for the players' health -- though not necessarily their finances or what they'll need to contribute to a 50/50 revenue split with the owners -- if the regular season were shorter and more rest were built into it. From NHL Injury Viz earlier this year:

          According to the nine-year average, injures start to take off around Game 62, then peak at around Game 76. The sweet spot for me would be around 70-74 games annually, with an expanded playoffs.

          Because of the late start time for the 2020-21 season, the NHL is absolutely going to have to reduce its schedule. The range has been rumored to be anywhere between 48 games -- the lockout special -- and all the way up to 65 games. Given the time constraint, as the NHL is going to hand out the Stanley Cup by July 15, and the need for flexibility due to postponed games and the like, I think 56 games this season would suffice. But I'm going with a 60-game season, for reasons that will become apparent later.

          Schedule

          I believe it was Christopher Marlowe who once wrote:

          "To hub, or not to hub? That is the question -- whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the nasal swabs and temperature checks of restrictive isolation, or to play games within thine own arenas?"

          Or maybe it was Donald Fehr? One of the two.

          Anyway, the hub city idea for this season seems to have lost steam. The cost is prohibitive, the logistics are a nightmare -- especially the housing -- and there's a belief among the players that that holding games inside home arenas will allow the NHL to schedule more of them, rather than having to carve out time for players to leave the "bubbles" for weeks of family and personal time.

          If they're not going to use hubs, the most popular option involves teams making baseball-style road trips to opponents' cities. The Sabres post up in Boston for three games in four nights, then head back home to host another team. Something like that.

          This sounds fine, given the circumstances. And by the third consecutive game against the same opponent, things might get a little salty in those buildings, even if they're empty.

          The three-game homestand concept is how I get to 60 games, because we're going to mess around with the divisions.

          Standings format

          Let's start with what's established, or close to established:

          The All-Canadian division is a near certainty, thanks to border issues that are not going to clear up any time soon. A regionally based divisional format is also likely to cut down on travel costs.

          One current divisional concept that I've heard from a few sources:

          Canada: Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets

          East: Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals

          Central: Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning

          West: Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights

          While we welcome Chicago and Detroit back into division rivalry, they're not nearly the draws they've been in years past. (Don't tell Jonathan Toews.) The Blues and Lightning obviously have the shine of recent championships and impassioned followings, but having the Penguins in that mix undoubtedly provides a lift in interest nationally that Carolina, by no fault of its own, does not. I think there's a chance the NHL swaps the Hurricanes with the Penguins for traditional rivalry reasons, but honestly, I wouldn't.

          Now, I've also heard there was a five-division format being bandied about, too. Just spitballing here, but what if:

          Canada: Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets

          Northeast: Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers

          Southeast: Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals

          Central: Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues

          West: Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights

          With seven teams in Canada, there's really no good way to break out that division. But check out the rest of this plan. The Northeast is all red meat rivalries. The "Southeast" -- and we're going to have to order out for air quotes here -- gives us that Penguins vs. Capitals goodness while offering up a fiercely competitive group. The Central eliminates trips down to Florida under the four-division plan, but adds one to Colorado. The West remains the West.

          If we're going geographic for a season, let's go five divisions. Teams in the U.S. divisions face one another 12 times, for four three-game homestands each and 60 games total. The Canadian one is tricker, but we can finesse it. Still, how do we seed the playoffs?

          Playoff format

          As noted earlier, Bettman wants a 16-team playoff tournament after expanding the field to 24 teams last summer, to account for the abrupt end to the season. Fine. Sure. Whatever. That's what we're rolling with, unless the Board of Governors rises up and demands the play-in round that the NHL should logically adopt when Seattle arrives in 2021-22. Maybe it will after they see how much money the NBA makes on it.

          But even if it's still 16 teams, it can't be a traditional playoff seeding format if there are five divisions. Heck, given the existence of the Canadian division, I don't think we can have that with four divisions, either.

          The whole point of the divisional format was to create rivalries by having teams play each other in the playoffs year after year, which isn't a thing when you have scrambled divisions like this. Plus with a Canadian division stretching from Quebec to British Columbia, there's no need for conference adherence anyway.

          So, let's get ingenious.

          First, we create a 1-through-16 playoff field. No conferences, just the 16 best teams in the NHL.

          (For the record, I'm a Wales Conference baby, so I do respect the conference vs. conference format for the Stanley Cup. Although I have come around to the idea of rebracketing the final four seeds in the league based on points percentage, for an added benefit to the regular season's better teams.)

          Next, we take those 16 teams and we seed them 1 through 8 regionally. Take the eight farthest-east teams and the eight farthest-west teams. Bracket them thusly. The winners from each "region" meet for the Stanley Cup.

          This plan is reliant on one very difficult variable: the border. Hopefully by May it becomes a bit more porous and would allow for Canadian and U.S. teams to battle in playoff series. But we're clearly crossing fingers here.

          But wait, there's more! Since we've altered the regular-season schedule to include three-game homestands, let's get nuts: Make each of those homestands its own miniseries.

          Two points for a win in any fashion, one point for an overtime or shootout loss, and zero points for a regulation loss. But, if your team ends that homestand with more points in the standings than your opponent, you get a bonus point added to your season total.

          We'll need tiebreakers, obviously. Say the Sabres visit the Bruins, for example. The Bruins win the first two games in overtime, 3-2 and 2-1. Buffalo wins Game 3 in regulation, 4-1. The teams tie with four points. The Sabres win in total goals, 7-6, and get an extra point in the standings.

          There are a bunch of different ways you can take this concept, but the three-game miniseries would be an exceptional way to bring added attention to what could otherwise be a repetitious regular season. Again, we're going to have to get creative with the numbers for this to work with the Canadian division, too, but I'll leave that to NHL scheduling genius Steve Hatze Petros.

          In summary

          My ideal 2020-21 season, given the circumstances: 60 games, five divisions, baseball-style homestands with bonus points for series wins, and a 1-through-16 regional playoff format, all held inside teams' home arenas.

          Arenas that will hopefully, and safely, have NHL hockey back in them.

          Arenas that will hopefully, and safely, see the return of fans by season's end.

          Fingers crossed, hockey fam.

          Three things about those reverse retro jerseys

          1. Thanks to everyone who checked out (and signed up for ESPN+ to check out) my ranking of the 31 NHL reverse retro jerseys, which we dropped the moment the jerseys did. As I said in the piece: I think it's the Colorado Avalanche at No. 1 by a country mile. The perfect combination of nostalgia and design, and check out the rest of the collection to see how hard it is to make a memorable white jersey.

          I get the backlash against it, though, especially since the Avalanche did things like putting retired Nordiques numbers back into circulation after buying and moving the team. They've played preseason games in Quebec, and helped out with youth hockey there through the years, but it's undeniable that the first overt celebration of the franchise's heritage is a retro-jersey cash grab.

          Daniel Blanchet, a Nordiques fan who followed them to Denver, told me why that shouldn't be the focus for Quebec fans: "It can't harm the project to see the Nordiques back. It will put the spotlight on the good memories and on the great hockey fans in Quebec City, who would kill to see the Nords back."

          And given the uncertain economic landscape for NHL franchises over the next few seasons, don't forget about Quebec City as the back-pocket relocation option that it's been for a decade.

          2. Most overrated jersey: The Carolina Hurricanes' ode to the Whalers. I had it at No. 12 but have seen other lists that heaped praise on it.

          Look, I've got nothing but love for the Whale. While I don't have "Brass Bonanza" as my ringtone like other hockey writers do, I have written about a Whalers-themed wedding before. (Remember weddings?) I think the logo is one of the greatest in sports history. Any jersey it adorns is going to be pretty good. This one, however, is demonstrably the weakest Whalers jersey ever created, using a color that was added only five years before their relocation. It's not even a barnacle on the original Whalers sweater.

          3. Most underrated jersey: Winnipeg Jets. Y'all are sleeping on this jersey like it's a Serta. The best logo in Winnipeg Jets history, run through the current team's color filter. The dark gray with the navy blue is perfection. If this were the first jersey the Jets wore after relocating from Atlanta, it would have been iconic. Yes, I know: These aren't those Jets, because those Jets are in Arizona. But the Coyotes are busy making peyote fever dreams come true, so the logo is fair game.

          Jersey Foul of the Week

          Not a Foul, but a question about them from a reader:

          Normally we're against getting the names of players on jerseys that they never wore. For example, it would normally be a Foul to get Wayne Gretzky's name on a purple -- sorry, "Forum Blue" -- and gold Kings sweater, as he never wore one with the team. But these reverse retro jerseys are an artifact of a higher dimension that we can't consciously perceive. They're the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.*

          So go ahead, get your franchise legends on these remixed jerseys, as they are not a Foul.

          (* paraphrasing the movie "Interstellar.")

          Winners and losers of the week

          Winner: Florida Panthers

          Brett Peterson was hired by the Florida Panthers this week and is believed to be the first Black assistant GM in NHL history, which is fantastic news. NHL hockey operations are in dire need of diversity, and in 2020 there's no reason they shouldn't have more of it. Kudos to GM Bill Zito for breaking the supply chain and giving a player agent this kind of role, as the Blue Jackets did for Zito several years ago. Kudos to Panthers president Matthew Caldwell, who has been a progressive force for that organization, not only in supporting the Peterson hire but also in reaching out to U.S. hockey legend Angela Ruggiero for a front-office role before Zito was hired.

          Loser: American turtles

          Vancouver Canucks goalie Braden Holtby's wife, Brandi, said her husband was stuck at the Canadian border because he didn't have the correct paperwork for their two turtles, Honey and Maple. Perhaps the most notable hockey moment involving a turtle since Brad Marchand saw Tom Wilson charging at him.

          Winner: The Greatest Caddie

          As future son-in-law Dustin Johnson won the 2020 Masters tournament, Wayne Gretzky decided to dress like a barefoot caddie wearing Carl Hagelin's number.

          Loser: Lemieux/Gretzky Debate

          It's pretty hard to separate Mario Lemieux from Wayne Gretzky in that time-honored debate when Mario, based on the available video evidence, apparently now has Wayne's face? My theory: Gretzky has secretly taken over Mario's life in a "Talented Mr. Ripley"-esque scheme for access to his wine cellar, and has asked to be called "Wario."

          Winner: World Juniors

          The camps are open, the Canadian roster drama is igniting and medical experts say that the IIHF World Juniors tournament in the Edmonton bubble looks "promising." Yeah, Christmas hockey!

          Loser: IIHF

          The International Ice Hockey Federation is reviewing the status of its 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship scheduled for Riga and Minsk because of "the ongoing challenging situation within Belarus and Latvia that has affected preparations for the tournament."

          That's putting it mildly: Latvia has blacklisted the head of Belarus' ice hockey federation as part of an ongoing sanctioning of Belarus and its dictatorial president Alexander Lukashenko. Per Bjurman of Sport Bladet had a scathing column (translated) on IIHF boss Rene Fasel: "He did not manage to squeeze out more than a few non-binding phrases about how important the world championship is for the international federation. About the suffering of the poor Belarusian people? Not a word."

          Winner: Goalie spin moves

          Nashville Predators first-rounder Yaroslav Askarov is apparently the Peter Forsberg of puck-handling goalies.

          Losers: Slacks

          Sorry, dress pants. It was a good run. But as New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin showed in this Esquire spread, 2020 fashion is all about business up top and sweatpants where the webcam can't see you.

          Puck headlines

          In case you missed this from your friends at ESPN

          The 2020-21 NHL Contender Tiers, ranking all 31 teams. This is an ESPN+ article, where my long-form pieces will now run, and I'm honored to be grouped in with a collection of outstanding columnists here at ESPN. But if you made it this far, you're probably already signed up, so please, tell a friend to get bundled!