Rumor: 1 Canadian province putting the entire NHL season in jeopardy.

The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players Association have reached a tentative agreement that will see a 56 game NHL season kick off on January 13th 2021, but there are still hurdles that need to be overcome before the league can actually host a season.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly it would now appear that arguably the biggest hurdle left to overcome is the one presented by the provincial governments in Canada. I say surprisingly simply because there are far more local governments that the league must deal with on the U.S. side of the border, given that the country hosts the majority of the league's teams across an number of different states, but it would appear that 1 province in particular is causing a hold up for the NHL.

The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta now reports that the 5 provinces that would be impacted by the NHL's return, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and British Columbia, have begun to work together to create a viable pathway for the NHL's 2021 season. Specifically the provinces are looking to work together on a solution that would allow the teams to play in their home arenas, however Pagnotta also reports that thus far only 4 of the 5 provinces are onboard with the plan.

Of course even just one province refusing to move forward could potentially kill any hopes of an "All Canadian Division" and put the entire NHL season in jeopardy, but I suppose the good news here is that it sounds like the NHL is already working on contingency plans in case an agreement with the provinces cannot be reached. 

Thus far nothing has been confirmed, but it sounds like the NHL's current contingency plans for this scenario would include moving all 7 Canadian teams to the United States for the season, or potentially playing out the Canadian Division inside of a bubble in Edmonton. That being said, rumors suggest that the players do not love either of those ideas which comes as absolutely no surprise. 

The question now becomes which of the 5 provinces is causing the problem? Thus far no report has revealed the identity of the lone dissenting province, and it may be that the NHL is keeping this a closely guarded secret in an effort to avoid damaging negotiations with that province through bad publicity. That being said it hasn't stopped fans from speculating, and they all seem to be coming up with the exact same answer. 

Here are just a few examples of the responses:

Do you have a guess of your own? Does it differ from the majority opinion here? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.