# NHL season begins Jan 13 with new divisions **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** hockey-nhl\ **Created:** [December 21, 2020, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521 "2020-12-21T08:59:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/21 "2021-01-14T00:01:26Z")
NHL guidelines on covid protocol: If you’re confirmed positive and asymptomatic - 10 days quarantine. If you’re a contract trace it’s a six-day block of time. Local rules come into effect as well, like my home province BC, which has slightly stricter coivd rules than elsewhere in Canada. (The Canucks’ Jamie Benn recently tested positive. 🙁) Coaches have to wear facemasks at all times. This will be an evolving, ongoing thing, and I just hope it can all be pulled off with nothing spiralling out of control. I’d like to retract my earlier comment about Gritty dude getting it. ETA: Also Canucks’ JT Miller has to sit out for 6 to 10 days - more of a tracing thing, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/22 "2021-01-14T07:22:04Z")
It seems the Blues were the only team to (other than the Canadian team, which is argue is good for them) to willingly move away from old rivals to head out west. Instead of being paired up against Chicago, Nashville, and Detroit. Makes no sense. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/23 "2021-01-14T11:46:56Z")
How about Chicago and Detroit playing 8 games, though! Original Six rivalry for the Blackhawks again. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/24 "2021-01-14T18:44:05Z")
Couldn’t have asked for a better opening day with _both_ my teams (Van and Phil - tl;dr story) registering wins. Seems like the past couple seasons the Canucks acquire a totally franchise-dominant young player, with Quinn Hughes last season, Elias Pettersson before that, and Brock Boeser (well, a little less so) before that. _This_ season, it’s 20 y.o. rookie Nils Hoglander, getting a goal and an assist yesterday and showing lots of his already-infamous flash. I just hope he keeps his from-behind-the-net lacrosse goals in the minors, where they should stay, IMO. Heh - surprised, though, if either team make the play-offs. And congrats! > If I’m not mistaken, this is the first time a visible minority has done national play by play on an NHL telecast in Canada. [#WellDone](https://twitter.com/hashtag/WellDone?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/nvt0vyYqmk](https://t.co/nvt0vyYqmk) > > — SportsMedia inCanada (@SportsMediaCAN) [January 14, 2021](https://twitter.com/SportsMediaCAN/status/1349559786551984130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Bolts will suffer with the absence of the world’s fifth best hockey player Nikita Kucherov due to hip surgery; might even miss these play-offs! ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/25 "2021-01-15T00:45:37Z")
St Louis is with Chicago and Detroit. Minnesota is in the Pacific Division ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/26 "2021-01-15T15:25:36Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Bolts will suffer with the absence of the world’s fifth best hockey player Nikita Kucherov due to hip surgery; might even miss these play-offs! Assuming this isn’t a whoosh, they still have a super-dominant team. They made it through most of the playoffs last year without another superstar in Stamkos. Go Isles, BTW! 4-0 shutout against the Rangers. Either the Rangers didn’t really show up to play, or the Isles defense is spectacular, because it was never really close. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2021, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/27 "2021-01-15T21:03:48Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Assuming this isn’t a whoosh, they still have a super-dominant team Sure, the Lightning have oodles of depth and goaltending, and I’ll bet they’ve had the NHL’s best winning % for, like, the past seven or eight seasons, but any team, even a strong one like TB, is a considerably lesser one without a player as impactful as NK. With Stamkos, I call him a Ming Vase: obviously valuable as all-get-out, but _extremely breakable_ (has spent waaaay too much time sidelined with injuries throughout his career). Huh, Luke Schenn’s playing for them? I thought he was done. Sure, his brother and he often lead the league in hits, but, well, we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/28 "2021-01-16T07:09:06Z")
No the Blues went over to the West Division for 2021 to replace the Canadian teams that formed their own Division because of Covid. [NHL Divisions (2021)](https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-teams-in-new-divisions-for-2020-21-season/c-319844882) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/29 "2021-01-21T00:05:18Z")
Capitals fined $100,000 in violation of social interactions among team members who were in close contact and who were not wearing face coverings. Add the Canes to list of teams having to postpone a game due to covid. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/30 "2021-01-25T06:15:45Z")
I get it that it’s still early in the season, no training camp/pre-season, jarring covid hiatus, yada… ok - enough of all this sloppy shit, now. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/31 "2021-01-25T12:59:51Z")
Did you see who was on the COVID list? At least Ovechkin and Orlov are on it. Luckily, the Isles play them this week! ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2021, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/32 "2021-01-27T22:52:43Z")
At the end of the Caps game on Tuesday, only three players on the ice/bench were on the team three years ago for the Cup win. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/33 "2021-01-29T23:46:37Z")
yeesh - way too many covid-cancelled games lately for my liking. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/34 "2021-01-30T17:33:48Z")
By the end of the season there’ll be a number of teams who haven’t played the same number of games as others, which could really _really_ suck if a team misses the play-offs by, say, a point, because of this. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/35 "2021-01-31T00:37:47Z")
So now [Rutherford’s gone](https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/jim-rutherford-resigns-as-gm-patrik-allvin-named-interim-gm/c-320770932) – any theories? Myself, I have a hard time believing, “oh, this was just time, I wanted to spend more time with my family, I’m getting old.” ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/36 "2021-01-31T03:14:55Z")
Evidently everyone in the Pens organization is quite blown away by this. His 3 year contract was coming up in June, and I heard chirps that if recently fired assistant GM Micheal Karmonos had still been around, so would’ve Trader Jim, who mentored MK since back in their Carolina days, collecting three Stanly Cups, together, since. An incredible 61 trades in the six years Rutherford was there. Guessing interim GM Patrik Allvin will eventually replace for good. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/37 "2021-02-01T21:12:31Z")
Any Rangers fans here? Trumpist booted off team, and wouldn’t yanno - [no one else wants him either!](https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/rangers-deangelo-goes-unclaimed-waivers-174709079.html) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/38 "2021-02-01T21:24:08Z")
When that happens, I assume he’s a pain in the ass during practices. Note: I’m NOT a Rangers fan. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/39 "2021-02-01T21:27:33Z")
If I was lacing up and someone starts yakkin about that shit - that would get my goat. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521/40 "2021-02-01T23:10:08Z")
Ouch - _TEN_ Devils on the covid list now - NJ postponed for about a week. Vegas has been having their covid issues too. This stuff should more or less have been expected so I’ll try to ease off on every update on this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nhl-season-begins-jan-13-with-new-divisions/928521.md?page=3)