Gary Bettman Says 2020-21 NHL Season Could Start in Late December or January

The end of the NHL season will occur no earlier than Sept. 25 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a near five-month suspension of play.

With NHL seasons typically beginning in early October, the league calendar must adjust for the 2020-21 campaign, and league commissioner Gary Bettman gave insight into when the 2020-21 season may begin.

Bettman said he "would not be surprised" if the season "slips into later December, [or] could slip into January," per ESPN's Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski.

The commissioner elaborated on his answer from the league's de facto bubble in Edmonton, Alberta, where the Stanley Cup Final between the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning begins Saturday.

"There's still too much we don't know. Nobody can tell me whether or not the border between Canada and the United States will be open by a certain date, nobody can tell me what the state of COVID-19 is going to be, nobody can tell us whether our arenas will have either socially distanced or fully occupied buildings. And we're going to have to do the same thing we did for return to play: explore all the options, be flexible and agile enough to implement when the appropriate time comes."

The league was forced to split games between Edmonton and Toronto to finish its season due to the pandemic.

Per Kaplan and Wyshynski, no positive results emerged from the 30,000 tests administered at both locations. Members from 24 teams, who were split in half between the two locations, were tested.

Although Bettman appears intent on holding a standard 82-game regular season, the season format may change for 2020-21 to account for the pandemic, with Kaplan and Wyshynski positing the possibility of a division realignment that would include an all-Canadian division due to the closure of the Canadian border with the United States.

"If there's an option to consider it, believe me, we'll consider it," Bettman said.

The NHL held a 24-team postseason this year after being forced to end the regular season abruptly due to the pandemic. A 16-team qualifying round brought forth eight winners who joined the top four Eastern and Western Conference franchises for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

An expanded playoff doesn't appear to be in the cards, though.

"It will take a fair amount of convincing—to me, at least—that we are needing to be making a change," Bettman said.

"I think what we did this year is what we needed to do to be fair to the clubs on the bubble in terms of making the playoffs, and I think we did the right thing in that regard, but I'm not necessarily sure it's part of our future."

The league ultimately wants to return to its typical October-to-June format, although that will not be possible in 2020-21 with players needing adequate rest to get ready for the next campaign.

As for this season, the Lightning vs. Stars matchup is scheduled to run through as late as Sept. 30, which is when Game 7 will be held if necessary.