The New York Rangers have been waiting, along with the other 30 teams, for the NHL and NHLPA to finalize plans and announce a start of the upcoming season.
Those plans may be delayed even more with indications coming out of Canada that medical agreements between the provincial health authorities and the NHL have not occurred as of yet. The seven Canadian teams may have to play all of their games in the United States.
More coming on Insider Trading tonight on @SportsCentre about the #NHL potentially having no choice but to move all 7 Canadian clubs to the U.S. for the 2020-21 season if agreements can't be reached with provincial health authorities.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) December 17, 2020
Last week reports of realignments of the NHL’s four divisions ran ramped with the hope that some official news of when the NHL would begin the season were poised to surface.
The Rangers were reportedly in a division with the Islanders, Devils, Flyers, Capitals, Penguins, and the Bruins. Â Those plans seemed to be on hold now as an all- Canadian division seems moot if those teams would be playing home games with the United States.
This could benefit the Blueshirts as the Bruins would go back to their regular division enabling the team to focus on their own division foes.
The  Public Health Agency of Canada released a statement in which it said,
via Frank Seravalli
The seven teams were notified of the possibility of not playing home games in their country on a phone call Thursday per Bruce Garrioch of TSN.
The main concern here is the players’ families. Â Players have said throughout the conversations on how and when to start the season that they would not consider any kind of bubble as they went through this past summer. Even a shorten 56-game NHL season would be a hardship on families if they would be separated from one another for up to six months.
Alex Georgiev Visa Trouble
Newsday’s Colin Stephenson reported on Thursday that goaltender Alexandar Georgiev may miss the beginning of training camp due to a work visa issue. He recently signed a new contract which automatically requires a new work visa.
Alex Georgiev is in Finland awaiting a work visa before he can return to New York. He needs a new visa because he signed a new contract in the offseason. Depending on how long the process takes, how soon he can return could affect his availability for the start of training camp.
— Colin Stephenson (@ColinSNewsday) December 17, 2020
Georgiev remains in Finland until the issue gets resolved which is not expected to be a long-term problem. The Rangers back-up goalie will have to go into quarantine whenever he returns to New York which is the reason he could miss some training camp time should he return to the big apple after the New year.