from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

The reality of a Jan. 1 start to the regular season is slowly, but surely, slipping away with each passing day as the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association try to find common ground on the economics of getting the 2020-21 campaign underway with a deal that works for both sides.

While only 10 days ago deputy commissioner Bill Daly was confident the two sides were working towards an agreement, the situation took a turn for the worse when the league asked the players for a further salary deferral and indicated it wanted to change the amount of escrow as a result of the hardship by COVID-19....

Now, it should be noted if the league really wants to start Jan. 1, and they keep stating that’s the case, then it’s quite possible that week of extra camp offered to those seven teams will simply be scrapped. After eight months sitting idle would it really make that big a difference? Maybe.

If the NHL and NHLPA decide they no longer want to give that extra seven days to those seven teams so they can begin play Jan. 1 then realistically they have until Nov. 30 to get a deal in place. American Thanksgiving is set for next Thursday so you have to think it’s paramount they have something by then.

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