from Kevin Paul dupont of the Boston Globe,

Commissioner Gary Bettman opened the draft Tuesday with a brief comment about the start of the 2020-21 season, saying the league was targeting Jan. 1 as opening day. In May, the commish was steadfast with his belief that his league would stage an 82-game season. If so, that means Game No. 82 would be approximately mid-July, with a Stanley Cup wrap by mid-September. Logic, if it exists any longer, speaks more to the 60-game schedule that the league adopted in the years immediately following World War II. Quite fitting, considering the ongoing war with the pandemic … If Jan. 1 holds, training camps likely would begin at the start of December, meaning the seven clubs that did not qualify in July for return to practice and play will have been off the ice for nine months … In the aforementioned three drafts, 2010-12, there were but three players in the top 12 picks who ranked as total busts. All three were big defensemen from the Western Hockey League. In 2010, the Rangers burned the No. 10 pick on Dylan McIlrath (6-5, 230 pounds) from Moose Jaw. At 28, he’s still hanging on with the Red Wings, only 66 NHL games on his résumé. The following year, the Avalanche spent No. 11 on Duncan Siemens (6-3, 210) of the Saskatoon Blades. He called it quits after 2018-19, with only 20 NHL games logged. Finally, the Islanders used the No. 4 pick in 2012 on Edmonton Oil King Griffin Reinhart (6-3, 216). He played in but 37 NHL games before finally joining the Kunlun Red Star last season in the KHL.

more notes plus other topics including day 1 of the draft...