The oddest season in NHL history was completed in September. Now in mid-January, we will launch an NHL season that could be even odder.

An All-Canadian Division. Reconfigured American divisions. A 56-game schedule. Division-only play. Anticipating players testing positive for COVID-19. Expanded rosters. No fans in the stands. Monumental losses for owners. This will be a strange ride.

We need to be ready for the uniqueness. Here is our To-Do list:

1.Making Tampa Bay’s numbers add up: The Stanley Cup champion Lightning are almost $2 million over the $81.5 million cap and they haven’t yet re-signed Erik Cernak and Anthony Cirelli.

The Lightning want to trade Tyler Johnson’s $5 million per season contract with four years remaining. Teams are interested in Johnson, but don’t like picking up a four-year commitment. They want a big payoff to make that deal, and the Lightning won’t give up their top prospects. The other complication: Johnson has a full no-trade clause.

The backup plan seemed to be to trade Alex Killorn (three years at $4.45 million) or Ondrej Palat (two years at $5 million). Killorn has a modified no-trade and Palat has a full no-trade.

The Nashville Predators, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils are among teams with the cap space to make this kind of deal.

Now, there are reports that Tampa Bay and Detroit are talking about a more complicated deal that would include Johnson with the rights to Henrik Zetterberg going the other way. Zetterberg retired for medical reasons, and the Lightning could gain some cap relief by putting Zetterberg on the long-term injured reserve.

My guess is that Brisebois has a deal that he knows he can make, but continues to work to find a deal with more favorable terms.

2. Clean-up on Aisle 3: After signing blue chip free agent Alex Pietrangelo, the Vegas Golden Knights have modest salary cap issues that need to be resolved. They need to trade someone. But it won’t be Max Pacioretty. Owner Bill Foley came out and said he wouldn't be dealt. He was reacting to a news report that he might be dealt. If that sounds like an unusual move for an owner, then you are starting to understand why fans and players are wondering what’s going on in Vegas.

Fans and players had trouble figuring out what GM Kelly McCrimmon’s plan was this offseason. It felt like there was a different trade rumor every day. Since their debut, the Golden Knights have relied on team chemistry to find success. McCrimmon has work to do to restore the trust with players.

3. Canadian Division players need to head north ASAP: Those players need to quarantine 14 days when they arrive in Canada. It’s important that everyone is settled in and ready to go at the start of training camp. That seems particularly true for the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks.

In last-season’s restart, it felt as if the Oilers weren’t as prepared to get going again as the Blackhawks.

4. The Islanders must re-sign Mathew Barzal and Columbus must extend Pierre Luc-Dubois soon. Neither of these teams are locks to qualify for the playoffs, and both of these teams will need every goal they can get this season.

The Islanders or Blue Jackets can’t afford to allow their negotiations with their young stars leak into training camp, or the regular-season. In a 56-game season, a bad start could be fatal. They need these youngsters to be happy and eager to start the season.

Although the Islanders and Blue Jackets will have to battle to make the postseason, both franchises could make noise in the postseason because their coaches demand they are hard to play against.


5. Make sure everyone appreciates that this will be a sprint, not a marathon: In an 82-game season, a good start or a nine-game unbeaten streak don’t mean as much. The best teams usually emerge at the end of a long season. A long season weeds out pretenders.

But in a 56-game schedule, a good start or a lengthy winning streak may be enough to carry you into the playoffs. Players have to come out of the gate trying to break into the lead. A hot team ca n earn a place in the postseason tournament

6. Predators need to find 40+ plus goals: Craig Smith and Mikael Granlund both left through free agency, and that left two spots in Nashville's top two lines. The Predators believe that Luke Kunin, acquired from Minnesota, might be able to slot in there. But he might be a good third liner rather than a top flight second liner.

The Predators need to cut a deal with Tampa Bay for one of its forwards or offer Mike Hoffman a one-year contract. He can give the team 25 goals. Kunin might add 15 or more.