from Tom Gulitti of NHL.com

The NHL is hoping and planning for a 2021-22 season with a full 82-game schedule and fully vaccinated players returning to pre-COVID-19 conditions.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly on Monday briefed general managers on the guidelines for next season and a variety of other topics in a video conference called by senior executive vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell.

The regular season will begin in October and end in April followed by the Stanley Cup Playoffs concluding in June.

Fully vaccinated players will be able to travel without protocols and work out on and off the ice without limitations on the size of the group and without being tested for COVID-19, presuming vaccination rates in the United States and Canada continue to climb and the Canada government loosens travel restrictions.

The NHL and NHL Players' Association continue to discuss the procedures for unvaccinated players.

After temporarily realigning and playing a 56-game, intradivisional schedule this season because of COVID-19, the NHL is planning to return to its previous schedule format, with each team playing all the others at least twice, and its previous divisional alignment, with the Metropolitan Division and Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference and the Central Division and Pacific Division in the Western Conference.

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