It looks like the Leafs might be playing in an All-Canadian Divison after all

The dog days of the offseason are well underway, with the caveat being that we’re in the middle of November with no clear sign of when the 2020-21 season will start and how it will look.

It appears we have gotten better clarity on both of these Thursday as Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic provided updates with an NHL Board of Governors meeting set to be held later today.

It’s worth mentioning that the Return to Play Committee (which includes @Zach Hyman and former Leaf @Ron Hainsey has been a major driving force in these talks for the state of the coming campaign.

The prospect of an All-Canadian Divison is an enticing one that would make things interesting for the Leafs considering how they might stack up against the other teams. Even if this is merely a consequence of the border being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and might just be a one-time thing, I want to see this happen and it would make for some awesome entertainment.

As for the New Years Day start, this has also been considered for the longest time along with a February 1st start. We still don’t know how long the season will be (with estimations ranging from 48 to 72 games), but getting the start date finalized will provide us with a better idea of what the duration of the campaign might be.

Given that the NBA recently announced their intentions to start the 2020-21 season on December 22, we might be getting word on the NHL’s plan much sooner.