BLOG: Critical Dates Gives Sense of Normalcy

There have been plenty of unknowns for the NHL as the league and its players negotiate their way through a global pandemic, but there is now a framework for those managing NHL teams.

A tentative critical date calendar was including in the Memorandum of Understanding between the NHL and PA who have agreed upon a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

"It's very important because we've been dealing with unknowns now for quite some time," Fitzgerald exclusively told NewJerseyDevils.com. "So now, we do know when these dates are going to be here, so now, how we can plan accordingly, whether it's getting back together as an amateur staff, getting together as a pro staff, going through depth charts, going through future potential free agents that are out there, filling holes, where do we want to improve? It's like hockey, what you know, in a normal world is back and that's exciting."

Dates important to look forward to:

NHL 2020 Entry Draft: October 9th and 10th, 2020

Free Agency Begins: October 11th, 2020 (or seven days after Cup Final ends, whichever is later)

Training Camps Open: November 17th, 2020

Opening of 2020-21 NHL Season: December 1st, 2020

\ All dates subject to change*

Video: 1-ON-1 | CBA discussion with Tom Fitzgerald