The puck today drops on a new NHL season which has been drastically adapted in order to keep people safe during the Covid-19 pandemic.

For this season only all of the Canadian teams will play in their own division and won’t travel to the US for matches.

The US division will have 56 games and the league’s commissioner Garry Bettman has said they have been flexible with their protocols.

He told CBC News: “We have to be ready to adjust and adapt to anything that may happen."

The league is not operating in a bubble as it did last year and half a dozen US teams will host a limited amount of fans. The NHL has already been hit with disruptions before the first game is played as the Dallas Stars have suffered a Covid outbreak.

Players in the league are aware things like this may happen but they want to take to the ice to bring back some ‘normalcy’ to fans,

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid added: "We’re definitely not lost on where the world is at and where our country is at. There’s lots of people stuck at home needing something to watch, needing some type of normalcy.

“So hopefully seeing us out on the ice can bring that back to them.”