NHL Announces Plans to Start 2021 Season in January 2021

On Sunday, the NHL announced it will begin its 2021 season on January 13, 2021. 

This means the Minnesota Wild will begin the 2021 campaign on that day as well!

There are a number of changes to the Wild and the NHL at large for 2021 only. For starters the NHL mixed around the division assignments for the upcoming season due to all 7 Canadian clubs being displaced for the near future. Canadian authorities will not be allowing any sports teams to bypass their 2-week quarantine period when entering the country. As a result, all of the Canadian teams will be in their own division fittingly named the North. The Wild will play in a modified West division. This division will include Minnesota, Anaheim, Arizona, Colorado, Los Angeles, San Jose, St. Louis, and Las Vegas. Most likely, the Wild and the Blues will have the highest travel expenses in the NHL this year with most of their division on the West coast. Minnesota's traditional rivals like Chicago will be staying in the modified Central division.

I would expect not too many teams will host fans to start the year, including the Wild. So I wouldn't expect to set foot in the Xcel Energy Center until at least March if not longer. The NHL will run a 56 game season this year! They hope to be able to run a standard season next year in the 2021-22 season which will be also hosting the Winter Classic at Target Field in 2022.

Exciting times!
​Go Wild!