How are NHL teams preparing for the upcoming season?

The 2021-22 NHL season is the 105th season of the National Hockey League. The league is composed of 32 teams after Seattle Kraken jumped into the moving wagon. The regular schedule kicks off on October 12 and is expected to run until April. Fans are eager to watch their favorite team’s battles out during the entire 82-game regular season. 

The North division comprises all Canadian franchises, while the East has teams in the neighboring states of Pennsylvania to Massachusetts. The Central division combines teams from the southeast United States and those in the heart of the country. On the other hand, the West division has the most significant teams playing in the NHL. Preparation is vital, as teams and all stakeholders seem to be ready for the popular league.

Realignment

The NHL Expansion Draft was held on July 21 to absorb Kraken. Earlier on December 4, 2018, the NHL confirmed the expansion franchise in the city of Seattle. The team went to Seattle Kraken on July 23, 2020, and was permitted to make trades and sign new players after the league received its final expansion payment.

The league is expected to go back to the previous alignment with East and West conferences. Before the coronavirus wrecked the globe, Seattle Kraken was placed in the Pacific Division while Arizona Coyotes was moved to the Central Division. Plans were underway in case cross-border travel restrictions continued for another year. Pandemic limits would force the league to make temporary alignment with all Canadian divisions for another year. The entry draft was held on July 23 and 24r. The current was conducted remotely with the Covid-19 protocols from the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.

The icing on the cake

Dust is yet to settle, and the league has to take precautions to avoid players and officials contracting Covid-19. NHL is prepared for possible Covid-19 outbreaks using taxi squads. Every NHL team will have a taxi squad of 4-6 players who must practice and travel. Those teams with fewer than three goalies will have to sacrifice one goalie to join the taxi squad. 

The NHL has continued to make some offside rules during the game. The player’s skates will no longer have to contact the blue line to be on the side. A player is termed on-side if his skates are in contact with the blue line, instantly the puck totally crosses the leading edge of the blue line. When a player’s skate has not broken the plane before the puck crosses the top border, a player is deemed on-side.

Sponsorships

The NHL allows teams to display sponsor logos on their helmets. Crews have already announced their sponsors where Carolina will have Lenovo and Chicago have Belle Tire on their helmets. Dallas has two symbols, Energy Transfer while playing at home and 7-Eleven while away. Detroit will display Meijer as their sponsor during the league, and New York Rangers have Benjamin Moore Paints.  Seattle will play, having Amazon as their sponsor. Some teams are lucky to have two sponsors, such as Vegas, who will wear helmets with the Credit One bank logo when playing at home and wear P3 Health Partners while away.

Coaching changes

A lot of teams have had a change of guard, something that those looking for NHL betting tips must consider. The Arizona Coyotes decided to part with Rick Tocchet and welcome Andre Tourigny as their 2020-21 coach. Tochett helped the team compile a 125-131-34 record and one appearance in 2020. Ralph Krueger has seen the gates of Buffalo Sabres after the team experienced a 6-18-4 start and lost 12 games. Kruger failed to sail Buffalo to the playoffs during the season. Don Granato replaced Krueger as the head coach on June 29. Columbus Blue Jackets also replaced John Tortorella with Brad Larsen on June 10. Larsen was the assistant coach during the season, and the world is eager to see what he can deliver.

Tortorella led the Blue Jackets during the 2015-2016 season and recorded 227-166-54 and four playoff appearances. Montreal Canadiens fired Claude Julien on February 24, 2021, who had a 9-5-4 record to start the season. Julien had a 129-123-35 record during his second stint and managed two playoffs. Dominique Ducharme replaced Claude on July 13 and signed a three contract with the team. 

The New York Rangers made some changes after firing David Quinn on May 12, 2021. For three seasons, Quinn served as the head coach, managed 96-87-25, and battled in the playoffs once. Gerard Gallant replaced David Quinn on June 16, 2021, as the head coach. Seattle Kraken called in Hakstol, who served as Philadelphia Flyers head coach, to help Seattle during the 2021-22 season.

Arena changes

The city of Glendale announced that it would not renew its lease with Coyotes on August 19, 2021. Arizona Coyotes will have their final season at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The Florida Panthers home arena named BB&T Center is temporarily named FLA Live Arena until a new sponsor is found. The New York Islanders have planned to move to UBS Arena during the 2121-22 season. In addition to arena changes, the Seattle Kraken will begin playing at Climate Pledge Arena, which was set aside for the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team. The Winnipeg Jets home arena has been renamed as Canada Life Centre from Bell MTS Place.

Uniforms

Seattle has a new face and is set to wear a home deep blue sea and white road uniforms. The team will also wear boundless blue, shadow blue, and red accents. The Winnipeg Jets have a throwback design they wore during the 2019 Heritage Classic. They have replaced their aviator blue script that fans have used since 2018. Arizona Coyotes have replaced the road uniform they wore from 2015 with an original Kachina design from 1996-2003.

The NHL sets to kick off on October 12.  Teams have prepared well by making several changes, including coaches, uniforms, and sponsors. With all modifications done, the 2021-22 season is expected to be bigger and wider than before.

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