NHL considering “hybrid bubble” for 2020-21 season

While the 2019-20 NHL season will officially wrap up this week, hockey fans are still left wondering what exactly is in store for 2020-21. We still don't know exactly when the puck will drop on next season and frankly, we don't even know if we'll be allowed to attend games once the season starts. Will the NHL allow fans in attendance? Will the teams be forced to play "in a bubble" like they have this post-season? These are all questions that we don't know the answers to just yet.

In his latest column for TSN though, hockey insider Frank Seravalli reports that the NHL is considering what it calls a "Hybrid Bubble" for the 2020-21 season that would essentially have the league run out of four to six locations with fans allowed in attendance. 

From Seravalli:

One concept for a hybrid bubble that has been kicked around on a preliminary basis includes four to six ‘bubbles’ in various locales around the NHL, preferably in cities where fans would be allowed inside arenas.

At least one hybrid bubble would be located in Canada. Given no near end in sight to the Canada-U.S. border restrictions, an all-Canadian division is a distinct possibility to begin next season. It was one thing to be granted an exemption to award the Stanley Cup in a once-in-a-century, two-month tournament with strict protocols and just one border crossing per team. It’s another taller task to seek federal government approval for an entire season’s worth of movement.

This hybrid bubble concept would include a rotation of two weeks in the bubble, followed by one week at home where players can regroup with their families, then rotating back in for another two weeks before returning home again.

Honestly, that sounds like a pretty good plan. Have teams come together in one location, play out their games and then move onto the next bubble. It makes sense, at least in theory. According to Seravalli teams would play approximately 12 games in a month's span in their bubble which is possible given that there will be no travel in between games.

The big hang up, from the NHL's perspective though, is whether or not the NHLPA will sign off on this. NHL players haven't exactly been enamoured with the bubble this postseason and it's hard to blame them. Being on the road is tough enough, but taking yourself away from your friends and family for weeks at a time is an entirely different thing. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that the 2020-21 season won't start until the NHL can get as close to "business as usual" as possible.