MLive’s Ansar Khan wonders aloud when the NHL season will start this season, and as such, when the Red Wings will be able to start practicing and preparing for an extended training camp as one of the seven teams that did not participate in “bubble hockey” this past summer:
The NHL said last month that the season will not begin before Jan. 1. Many, including Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, believe the season is not likely to start before February, and that it will consist of 48 or 56 games.
“It looks like we’ll be able to come up with some type of plan,” Yzerman said. “I don’t know specifically what that is, and then kind of keep my fingers crossed that things don’t go sideways again and we’re not able to play.”
Yzerman noted that travel restrictions between the U.S. and Canada could have an effect. Some have speculated the league forming an all-Canadian division and multiple regional divisions in the U.S.
Yzerman is not concerned about players not being prepared following the long layoff.
“Players are skating, it’s not game-like situations but they’ll get it back relatively quickly,” he said. “I don’t know what training camp is going to look like, don’t know how many preseason games we play, if any, but from watching the playoffs, guys being out from March to late July, the first few games were sloppy, but after three, four, five games you saw the guys looking pretty good. I’m hopeful that our guys are all conscientious and motivated and self-disciplined and I believe they are.”
