Senators and Maple Leafs Get Home-Ice Approval

In news that seems a touch last-minute, the province of Ontario has approved the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs playing home games at their respected home arenas. The NHL has been busy trying to get the necessary approvals to restart play in Canada and the creation of the North division was just one of the many steps.

This season is shaping up like no other and all the Canadian teams are going to be sick of seeing each other by the end of the 56-game campaign. There's also the wrinkle that any player traded to a Canadian team has to quarantine for 14 days, which is basically like missing 10% of the season. Look for whichever teams are running away with the North division to do their best to acquire players from dwelling Canadian teams.

There will be no fans in attendance for any regular season games and this isn't likely to change anytime soon.

Here's the full statement from the province, the season kicks off January 13th:

#Hockey news in Ontario 👇

The Ottawa @Senators and Toronto @MapleLeafs will be able to play home games in their respective arena's as they compete in the @NHL North Division. My statement here: pic.twitter.com/Q6bOGJeamV
— Lisa MacLeod (@MacLeodLisa) January 7, 2021