Photo: Jones Day

TSN’s Darren Dreger said on Tuesday’s Insider Trading that the next step for the NHL and NHL Players’ Association is “a lot of work on (COVID-19) protocols” as they inch closer towards an agreement on the 2020-21 season. He added that players can opt this season out and that the two sides still need to discuss whether players will have to get COVID-19 vaccinations when they become available.

While the NHL and players’ association were revisiting the CBA extension from this past summer, there were talks about bringing back compliance buyouts, which NHLPA was open to but the league was not.

Pierre LeBrun said that the NHL will work in extra days to allow for postponed games after seeing the MLB and NFL being forced to do that during their respective seasons after having players test positive for COVID-19. The NHL has made a proposal regarding how many players teams can carry but NHLPA is still sitting on that.

The Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, and Calgary Flames do not plan to relocate their AHL clubs, which are all located in the United States, so they will keep some extra players on the NHL squad. The AHL could have a Canadian division and still plan to start their season on Friday, February 5.

The NHL is hoping to give the seven teams that did not participate in this past summer’s return-to-play format (Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Ottawa Senators, and Detroit Red Wings) a few extra days of training camp but they will not have seven, which was previously discussed.

By Harrison Brown