Golden Knights' owner: Proposed Mid-January start 'May slide a week or 2'

Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley is confident the NHL will resume in 2021 but thinks it may happen later than the league currently hopes.

A recent report from TSN's Pierre LeBrun indicates the league is moving on from its original Jan. 1 target with the NHL and NHLPA discussing a new start date.

"It may not start Jan. 15, it may slide a week or two, but we will be playing hockey and we'll be at T-Mobile," Foley said Monday during an interview with Fox Business.

"But, unfortunately, we may not have fans, which is really sad, especially for our team because we intend on winning the Stanley Cup this year," Foley added.

On Monday night, TSN's Darren Dreger reported the NHL is now aiming for a Jan. 13 start.

Negotiations between the league and the Players' Association recently stalled after the NHL asked players to defer 20% of their salaries along with escrow rising to 25%. The new collective bargaining agreement signed in July 2020 stated players will defer 10% of salaries with escrow limited to 20%.

Regardless of a specific start date, the two parties need to reach an agreement soon if they intend to realistically drop the puck at any point in January. The league still needs to finalize divisional realignment on top of picking a schedule, while players outside of North America will likely need to adhere to 14-day quarantine periods before participating in two-week training camps.