Get ready for NHL season unlike anything we've seen

It has a fantasy league feel to it, like something you might find in the video game universe.

Can you imagine if Zdeno

Chara were to leave Boston and join forces with Alex Ovechkin in Washington? How about if Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds and Jason Spezza all returned home in hopes of ending Toronto's championship drought? Or if Alex Pietrangelo signed with Vegas, Torey Krug went to St. Louis and Taylor Hall and Eric Staal took their talents to Buffalo?

What if Calgary ended up with Jacob Markstrom as its No. 1 goalie and Vancouver brought in Braden Holtby? What if Montreal got gritty and added Corey Perry, Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli and Joel Edmondson?

And what if the seven Canadian teams were all lumped together in one division and played exclusively against one another all year?

Sounds a bit crazy, right? Almost unbelievable.

Well, welcome to the 2021 NHL season, where you almost have to suspend belief in order to accept just how different the league will look this year.

This is going to be an odd-looking season. Think pictures of Wayne Gretzky in a St. Louis Blues uniform look weird? What do you think it will look like to see Chara in a Capitals jersey or Thornton in blue-and-white?

Yet the strangest part of what lies ahead will most likely involve the 56-game schedule.

We might be getting used to seeing games played in empty — or near-empty — arenas. We're also used to seeing a shortened season, thanks to the 2012-13 lockout that shrunk the schedule to only 48 games. But this year's divisional alignment is unlike anything we've ever seen.

Due to COVID-19, Canadian and American teams won't mix. That means that Calgary, Edmonton Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg will play each other exclusively in a North Division. The good news is we'll get 10 games of the Battle of Alberta and of Patrik Laine versus Auston Matthews.

But we won't see Sidney

Crosby against Connor Mcdavid or Drew Doughty renewing his rivalry with Matthew Tkachuk.

The league is going to feel smaller and more regional than it has in the past. It's also going to feel rather incomplete.

How will you know if a team, such as Calgary or Vancouver, is a championship contender if you don't get to see them measure themselves against Tampa Bay or even Dallas, Colorado, Vegas and Washington?

It's one thing for Toronto to beat up on the other Canadian teams. It's another to assert your will against Boston or Columbus. We know Calgary can beat Winnipeg. But do they have the goaltending needed to beat Dallas? Has Edmonton learned how to hang with a veteran team like Chicago?

We won't know until the playoffs arrive.

Then again, good luck handicapping which four of the seven Canadian teams will qualify for the playoffs. With the exception of Ottawa, you can make arguments for and against all of them.

Who are the favourites to win the division? Who will disappoint and miss out? How do you pick between Toronto and Montreal and Edmonton and Calgary and Winnipeg and Vancouver when everyone has so much talent, so much promise?

Did signing Thornton and Simmonds provide the Maple Leafs with the veteran presence needed to find consistency? Or by getting older, did they also get slower and perhaps become not quite as dangerous as they once were?

Will Vancouver, which went further than any other Canadian team last year thanks to the giant step taken by youth, take another step toward contending? Or will the key losses of Markstrom, Toffoli and Chris Tanev set them up for a step backwards?

How about Montreal? On paper, no team seemingly made more of an improvement in the off-season. But what if age catches up to Shea Weber and Perry? And what if Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi experience growing pains after a breakthrough season?

Did Edmonton and Winnipeg, which acquired Kyle Turris and Paul Stastny, respectively, do enough to keep up with their competitors? Did Calgary, which improved in net, remain too complacent up front?

With only 56 games, expect the unexpected. While you're doing so, be prepared to suspend belief.

This season promises to be unlike any we've seen.