AHL Board of Governors Approves "Structural Framework" For 2020-21 Season

The American Hockey League (AHL) has taken the next step toward returning to play in the 2020-21 season, announcing Wednesday afternoon that the league's Board of Governors (BoG) "approved the structural framework for an AHL season" with further details yet to be worked out.

For now, the plan is still to drop the puck on the AHL's 2020-21 season on February 5th - the league's target start date.

Shortly after the announcement, Syracuse Crunch owner Howard Dolgon was on a conference call with local AHL media discussing some of the events that transpired in this afternoon's board meeting.

According to Dolgon, AHL teams will have until January 4th to make a decision on whether or not they participate in the 2020-21 season.

A subsequent BoG meeting will take place next week, where, with the knowledge of which teams are in or out, the details of the 2020-21 season and a playing schedule - can hopefully be finalized in short order. When the calendar turns to 2021 on Friday, the league - and participating teams - will have 35 days to hash out all the finer details in preparation of an AHL season unlike any other in the league's history.

"As you know we had a call today as a league. There were probably more people on this conference call, per team, than any conference call I've been on in my 26-year tenure," Dolgon said, estimating about 100 people on today's AHL BoG call.

There are still plenty of things to be figured out, but now teams know there will be a season. It's now a matter of which teams will be or won't be able to participate.

"I think in the last five days, [we've] have really started crunching the numbers," Dolgon said of Syracuse-Tampa Bay and their process to come to a decision on whether they will opt in or out. "I think for most teams it will be a combination of a financial decision and a developmental decision. If those two factors come together and it makes sense for the AHL team and the NHL team then they'll play. And if they can't come to a conclusion that works for both, they wont."

Dolgon tip-toed around a question posed about the minimum number of games a team must play in 2020-21 because it hadn't yet been announced formally in today's AHL release.

"The approval on what we chose was unanimous. That shows that every franchise was considerate of the need of the other. That doesn't mean that every team is going to be able to play," Dolgon explained. "At least that means we got to a point where everyone needed to be to make a decision with the best opportunity to move forward."

Dolgon added that there has been discussion among the league of having a flexible schedule, so that if some teams wanted to play less games than others - due to the pandemic, costs associated with playing games, etc. - they could. He added that his personal preference for Syracuse is playing whatever the minimum amount of games allowed by the AHL this upcoming season.

Ultimately for Dolgon and the Syracuse Crunch, their decision on whether or not they'll be playing in the AHL this upcoming season will be a decision made with their NHL partner in Tampa Bay.

A similar discussion and subsequent decision will be had and made with AHL teams and their NHL partner in the coming days in advance of next week's meeting, where further details and scheduling can be figured out.