2021–22 NHL season

The 2021–22 NHL season will be the 105th season of operation (104th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league will expand to 32 teams with the addition of the Seattle Kraken.

The league plans to return to its normal October-to-April, 82-game regular season with a target date of October 12 for opening night, but this is contingent on the COVID-19 pandemic and the Government of Canada reducing its COVID-19 cross-border travel restrictions.

Expansion
On December 4, 2018, the NHL confirmed that it had granted an expansion franchise in the city of Seattle. The team was christened as the Seattle Kraken on July 23, 2020. On April 30, 2021, the team was permitted to begin making trades and signing players after sending its final expansion payment to the league.

The 2021 NHL Expansion Draft is scheduled to be held in July 21, 2021 to fill out the Kraken roster.

Realignment options
The nature of the season is contingent on the Government of Canada reducing its COVID-19 cross-border travel restrictions. If the border restrictions continue, the league may be forced to maintain its temporary alignment with an all-Canadian division for a second year. Some Canadian teams have also expressed interest in keeping the all-Canadian division regardless of the border situation so these games are played with fans in attendance.

The original plan prior to the pandemic was to put the Seattle Kraken in the Pacific Division while moving the Arizona Coyotes to the Central Division.

The league has proposed two schedule formats to be voted on, the second of which would effectively eliminate the Eastern and Western conferences. The first proposal will have each club play home and away interconference games with all the teams from opposing conference, three intraconference games with teams from the other division in the same conference, division rivals will play each other four or three times, and a likely return to conference-based playoffs since 2013 with the top eight teams in each conference qualifying. The second proposal would have each club playing home and away games with the teams from the three other divisions, four games against each division rival, six games designated for "special scheduling", and a strictly-divisional-based playoff system with the top four teams in each division qualifying.

Entry draft
The 2021 NHL Entry Draft is scheduled for July 23–24, 2021. For the second consecutive year the draft will be conducted in a remote format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hosted from the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Coaching changes
(*) Indicates interim.

Arena changes

 * The New York Islanders plan to move to UBS Arena for the 2021–22 season.
 * The Seattle Kraken are scheduled to begin play at Climate Pledge Arena, a redevelopment of the former KeyArena and Seattle Center Coliseum which had been optimized for basketball to suit the former Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Amazon.com bought the naming rights to the arena and chose the "Climate Pledge" name after its environmental goals.

Regular season
The league plans to return to its normal October-to-April, 82-game regular season, but this will depend on the status of COVID-19 restrictions across both Canada and the U.S. The league has targeted October 12 for opening night.

International games
The league plans to hold the three international games that were originally scheduled during the previous season but were postponed due to the pandemic: the Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators at O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic; and two games between the Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland.

Outdoor games
The league plans to hold the outdoor games that were originally scheduled during the previous season but were postponed due to the pandemic:


 * The Winter Classic, featuring the Minnesota Wild hosting the St. Louis Blues at Target Field.
 * The Stadium Series game, hosted by the Carolina Hurricanes at Carter–Finley Stadium, against an opponent yet to be announced.

Olympics
The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that the league and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) signed on July 10, 2020, included a provision opening the possibility for the NHL to explore participation at the 2022 and 2026 Winter Olympics.

All-Star Game
The All-Star Game that was originally scheduled during the previous season was to have taken place at the Florida Panthers' arena, the BB&T Center. Should the league decide to go to the Olympics, the All-Star Game may be postponed for another season.

National
This is the eighth season of the league's 12-year Canadian national broadcast rights deal with Sportsnet. This includes Sportnet's sub-licensing agreements to air Saturday Hockey Night in Canada games on CBC Television and French-language broadcasts on TVA Sports. And games streamed on Sportsnet Now, CBCSports.ca (for games televised by CBC), or the subscription service Rogers NHL Live.

National
The 2021–22 season brings a significant realignment for national media rights in the U.S., as it marks the first year of seven-year agreements with ESPN and Turner Sports. This will be the first time that ESPN broadcasts the NHL since 2003–04, while this is Turner's first national NHL contract, and resembles the two's existing broadcast deals with the NBA. ESPN's agreement was announced on March 10, 2021, and Turner's on April 27, 2021. With the league seeking to split the rights between multiple broadcasters, NBC Sports declined to aggressively bid on a deal in which they were asked to pay for at least the same annual rate that they had agreed to during their previous 10-year exclusive contract, thus ending their relationship with the NHL since 2005–06. It also marks the first time since 1998 that the league's American television partner does not also own one of its teams; ESPN and Turner sold off their NHL teams in 2005 and 2003, respectively.

ESPN's regular season coverage will feature 25 games on ABC or ESPN, and 75 exclusive games streamed on ESPN+ and Hulu. ESPN will also hold exclusive rights to the opening night games, the All-Star Game, and other "special events". NHL.tv, the NHL's digital out-of-market package, will be discontinued in the United States, with all out-of-market games moving to ESPN+.

Turner Sports will feature up to 72 regular season games on TNT or TBS, with TNT also broadcasting the Winter Classic. Turner also may stream their games on HBO Max, and Bleacher Report will have extended highlights.

Coverage of the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs will be split between ESPN and Turner, with each televising half of the first and second round games, and one conference final per season. Coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals will be rotated annually, with ABC airing it during even years (marking the first time that it will be broadcast in its entirety on American network television) and TNT televising it during odd years (marking the first time since 1994 that national coverage will be exclusively on cable television).

Local

 * The Buffalo Sabres' radio agreement with Audacy, Inc. and flagship station WGR is scheduled to expire in the 2021 offseason.
 * The Seattle Kraken's inaugural regional TV broadcaster will be Root Sports Northwest. Seattle's radio coverage will primarily be on KJR with some games on KJAQ.

Personnel
On May 26, 2021, Turner announced that Wayne Gretzky would become a studio analyst, and that Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk would be moving from NBC to become Turner's lead announcing team.

Buffalo play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret is expected to retire, concluding a 50-year tenure with the team. Dan Dunleavy, who had taken up an increasing portion of the play-by-play workload as Jeanneret wound down his career, expressed doubt that he would return to the team as well in an open letter to Sabres fans on May 9, 2021.

Seattle's inaugural local commentators will include John Forslund on TV and Everett Fitzhugh on radio.