It could be Judgement Day for the NHL and the 2020-21 season this week

This could be a critical week for the NHL and the future of the 2020-21 season.

We’re about to enter the month of December meaning that we are just a month away from the NHL’s proposed start date of Jan. 1, 2021 for the 2020-21 NHL season.

However, there has been no confirmation about when the new season might start and, instead, we were met with grim reports earlier this month that suggested trouble could be on the horizon.

With the NHL having to accept that they will need to start the 2020-21 season without fans, their financial losses and that of each team owner is now significantly worse due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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As such, the NHL approached the players and the NHLPA to ask for more concessions and alterations to a CBA that was only signed back in the summer, leaving certain players outraged and feeling betrayed.

Commissioner Gary Bettman and the league now want either an increase in the Escrow Cap to 25 percent and the deferred compensation to 20 percent for the 2020-21 season, or deferred compensation to increase sharply to 26 percent in 2020-21 and the Escrow to increase slightly in years four to six of the CBA.

It is understandable that neither proposal went down well on the players’ side, and you can’t really blame them for feeling how they do given that this is a new CBA and the players did give up a lot in order to ensure that a 2019-20 Stanley Cup Champion was crowned.

The good news was that talk of discontent quickly disappeared but, a day before Dec. 1, there may be some reason to start worrying now.

Per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and TSN, there have been ongoing discussions between some NHL and NHLPA officials but, as of now, there have been no concrete developments.

And, as LeBrun perfectly put it, this week looms large with the NHL now on the clock with the 2020-21 season perhaps hanging in the balance and at real threat for the first time.

After all, the main reason the NHL targeted a Jan. 1, 2021 start date was to still fit in a 60 or 70-game schedule that would protect the integrity of the game and integrity of the Stanley Cup, while ensuring that they were finished before the Tokyo Olympics start on July. 23, 2021.

Furthermore, the league are desperate to protect the 2021-22 season and commit to a full 82-game schedule given that will be the year both the Seattle Kraken and a blockbuster TV deal come into play.

Therefore, it is critical that the 2020-21 season starts on Jan. 1 in order to protect those future dates and, as a direct result, it is also imperative that the NHL thrash out an agreement with the NHLPA this week.

Again, we will be entering December this week and time is rapidly running out for a concrete start date to be agreed and then signed, sealed and delivered, while a plethora of logistical headaches will also need to be solved.

Teams will need to inform players when to report to Training Camp, safety measures will need to be implemented and the NHL will also have to work out, and quickly, whether to begin the season in home arenas or four Bubbles.

Basically, there will be a lot to do even after an agreement is reached and there isn’t a lot of time until Jan. 1, 2021, meaning that the pressure is really on.

The sliver of good news is that the NHL is desperate to start the 2020-21 season on Jan. 1, and both owners and players will be well aware of how costly a lost season would be to the overall long-term health and popularity of the sport and the league.

Also, the players and the owners would have seen the ugly fallout from the MLB airing their dirty laundry with their players during their Return To Play Plan, and the NHL and its players won’t want a similar feud over money to spill into the public domain in a year where so many have lost so much due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, so both sides should be highly motivated to get something done and quickly this week.

Overall, it is now do or die time for the NHL and the NHLPA with time of the essence and, while I am still confident that we will see the 2020-21 season start on Jan. 1, 2021, it will all boil down to this week and if considerable progress can be made.

If the NHL and the NHLPA can indeed get their heads together, put their differences aside and thrash out an agreement this week then that will be brilliant news but, the longer we go on with no news, that will be the time to start getting nervous.

Let’s hope for the former option.