NHL Rumors: Teams Showing Increased Interest In Playing Games At Home

Bubble or no bubble?

That’s the question the NHL faces ahead of its upcoming 2021 season with the COVID-19 pandemic still in full swing.

And while the idea of utilizing a bubble at least for short time is under consideration, there appears to be an increased interest among teams in playing games at home arenas, per TSN’s Frank Seravelli.

The NHL utilized a bubble to complete the 2019-20 season after the coronavirus forced the league to shut down temporarily in mid March. The move cost franchises millions of dollars, with the league losing upwards of $90 million as a whole.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Tuesday said the league would consider briefly using a bubble at the start of the season. Thursday’s report slightly contradicts Bettman’s comments, though it doesn’t sound like a bubble environment is out of the question at the moment.

Either way, the league doesn’t have much time to get its ducks in a row, especially if it’s hoping to kick off the season Jan. 1 as previously suggested.