After commissioner Gary Bettman announced Tuesday that the NHL is considering a temporary realignment for the upcoming season, theScore decided to create three realignment options the league could explore.

With Canada's 14-day quarantine rules still in effect (despite an ongoing pilot project), it's not surprising that Bettman hinted an all-Canadian division may be inevitable in 2020-21. But how would that affect the rest of the NHL?

There are a few important things to keep in mind here. Bettman specifically said having teams travel "from Florida to California may not make sense," so we've eliminated inter-conference regular-season games. These realignment proposals are designed to align time zones and reduce travel as much as possible - even if teams are playing in short-term hubs for 10-12 days at a time, as Bettman revealed.

For the purposes of this exercise, we assumed the league will stage a 48-game regular season, which is reportedly the shortest campaign it's considering. Bettman also said he hopes to have the playoffs finished before July, so anything more than 48 games seems challenging with a Jan. 1 target start date. The NHL ran a 48-game season during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign, so there's familiarity.

Here are our three realignment options:

4 divisions

• U.S. teams play each divisional opponent six-to-seven times. The top four teams in each division make the playoffs.
• Canadian teams play each divisional opponent eight times. The top four teams make the playoffs.

The East and West divisions are nicely split geographically, but the South Central is a bit of a mishmash. It features three teams on Central Time - the Blackhawks, Predators, and Blues - and five on Eastern Time.

The only competitive imbalance comes in the West division, where at least one of the Ducks, Coyotes, Kings, Wild, and Sharks would make the playoffs. All five of those clubs finished in the bottom third of the league in points percentage last season.

5 divisions

• U.S. teams play each divisional opponent 9-10 times. The top three teams in each division make the playoffs.
• Canadian teams play each divisional opponent eight times. The top four teams make the playoffs.

This configuration offers a far better geographic split than the four-division option. The Red Wings draw the short straw as the only team in the Central Division on Eastern Time, with the other five using Central Time. Detroit could easily switch with the Blue Jackets, though, as both teams were in the Western Conference before the league realigned for the 2013-14 campaign.

The most glaring competitive imbalance once again comes in the western-most division - the Pacific. The Avalanche and Golden Knights are elite, but the other four teams are mediocre at best.

3 conferences, 8 divisions

Eastern Conference

• Teams play divisional opponents eight times each and out-of-division opponents three times each. Division winners clinch playoff spots, while the remaining top three teams in the conference earn wild-card spots.

Western Conference

• Teams play divisional opponents eight times each and out-of-division opponents three times each. Division winners clinch playoff spots, while the remaining top three teams in the conference earn wild-card spots.

Canadian Conference

• Canada East teams play divisional opponents 12 times each and Canada West clubs six times each.
• Canada West teams play divisional opponents 10 times each and Canada East clubs six times each.
• Division winners clinch playoff spots, while the remaining top two teams in the conference earn wild-card spots.

An eight-division system works for the NFL, so why not use it in the NHL for a season? This would seemingly be the fairest option, as it features the most non-divisional games and doesn't favor weak divisions as heavily as the other proposals.

But more non-divisional games could mean more travel, and that's something the NHL likely doesn't want. This specific alignment would also be even more unfair for the Red Wings: Detroit would be the only team playing opponents more than two time zones away.

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50-41 | 30-21 | 20-11 (Nov. 12) | 10-1 (Nov. 13)

Welcome to the theScore's NHL logo countdown. This list examines logos that date back to the inception of the Original Six and includes the main emblem for all 32 current teams, 11 clubs that moved or changed their name, and seven whose logo has undergone a significant redesign. Only primary ones were considered.

The five-part series concludes with the top 10 on Friday. Let's continue with Nos. 40-31.

40. New York Islanders (1995-97)

There's no in-between for the Islanders' "Highliner" era: You're either fully on board with the nostalgia or you can't shake the feeling of staring at a box of fish sticks. Regardless of where you stand, the incorporation of teal deserves props for at least being creative.

39. Atlanta Flames

For whatever reason, Atlanta's flaming "A" doesn't quite work as well as Calgary's flaming "C." The colors definitely pop, but the design lacks inspiration and doesn't hold up when it's not crested on a jersey.

38. Carolina Hurricanes

Realistically, how many ways can a hurricane be artistically depicted? Carolina would likely tell you that options are limited, as the club has rocked this underwhelming swirly design as its primary crest since relocating from Hartford in the late '90s.

37. Florida Panthers

The Panthers downgraded when they switched to this logo for the 2016-17 season. The old one was much more intimidating and ferocious.

36. Arizona Coyotes

The desert colors are slick, but the logo itself is literally just a Coyote head. For an organization that used to own one of the most artistic and unique looks in hockey, the Coyotes' modern crest is very dull.

35. Nashville Predators

There are all sorts of animal predators to choose from, so why a saber-toothed tiger? Apparently, a fang and foreleg bone of one of these prehistoric beasts was found in a cave just below the entrance of Nashville's old First American Center 26 years before the team's unveiling in September 1997. The logo is certainly fierce-looking, but it's somewhat lacking in creativity.

34. Atlanta Thrashers

The brown thrasher is the state bird of Georgia and was the inspiration behind Atlanta's team name and logo. The bird is described as aggressive and defensive, an identity the Thrashers surely hoped to replicate.

33. New York Islanders

The Islanders' original logo is easily better than the aforementioned Highliner one. The map of Nassau and Suffolk counties is a nice touch behind the New York-sized "NY," and incorporating a stick and puck is always a nice touch.

32. Vancouver Canucks

The orca breaching out of the water is a tribute to British Columbia's West Coast heritage, and presenting it as a "C" ties things together very nicely. The contrasting shades of blue also work well, and while it's not the best logo the organization has dawned, the Canucks don't have to worry about rebranding for the foreseeable future.

31. Los Angeles Kings (1967-75)

The Kings seem unlikely to shift away from their black and silver color scheme anytime soon, but we love the purple and gold. It's far more exciting and unique. This team logo, which never appeared on the front of a jersey, ranks 10 spots higher than Los Angeles' current one. Perhaps it will return in an alternate uniform someday.

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The Boston Bruins are "full steam ahead" with netminder Tuukka Rask for the upcoming campaign, according to head coach Bruce Cassidy.

"I think everything that happened in the bubble has been addressed, dealt with," Cassidy said Wednesday, according to NHL.com's Amalie Benjamin. "We're moving on, getting ready to win next year. That includes our goaltender."

Rask opted out of the league's return in August following Game 2 against the Carolina Hurricanes to tend to a family emergency. The Finnish goaltender received support from the organization and his teammates after making the decision.

Cassidy said Rask's absence affected the team mentally before the Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated the Bruins in five games. The 55-year-old bench boss believes the 2020 Vezina Trophy finalist is excited to get back and compete.

"... I think he just wants to get back in the net and play hockey and play well and give us a chance to win," Cassidy said.

"Probably nobody more excited on our team to (be) getting back in there," he added. "I would assume that Tuukka would sort of say 'hey, I'm still the goalie I was last year and I'm ready to go. Family's good, I'm good. Everyone's in a good place. Let's play hockey.'"

Rask is entering the final year of his current deal and will become an unrestricted free agent after the season. The 33-year-old has spent all 13 campaigns of his career with the Bruins, and Rask said in October he wouldn't want to play anywhere else.

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The NHL is getting creative in exploring its options for the 2020-21 season.

While the league is looking for ways to have teams play in their own buildings, it's also discussed using short-term hubs and temporarily realigning the divisions to reduce travel amid the coronavirus pandemic, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday.

"You'll play for 10-12 days," Bettman said of the potential hub system, according to NHL.com's Nicholas J. Cotsonika. "You'll play a bunch of games without traveling. You'll go back, go home for a week, be with your family. We'll have our testing protocols and all the other things you need.

"It's not going to be quite as effective as a bubble, but we think we can, if we go this route, minimize the risks to the extent practical and sensible. And so that's one of the things that we're talking about."

With the Canada-United States border closed to nonessential travel, a division including all the Canadian teams is another possible adjustment.

"Obviously, we're not going to move all seven Canadian franchises south of the 49th parallel, and so we have to look at alternative ways to play," Bettman said.

He added, "As it relates to the travel issue, which is obviously the great unknown, we may have to temporarily realign to deal with geography, and that may make sense, because having some of our teams travel from Florida to California may not make sense."

The NHL is targeting Jan. 1 as the start date for the 2020-21 campaign and reportedly won't consider playing less than a 48-game season. Bettman, who previously said he'd prefer to avoid playing in the summer, says he's focused on getting back to the league's usual calendar.

"While we're in the middle of working on our return to play as well, which I hope to have put to bed soon, our goal is to get back to a normal schedule starting (next) fall and being done before July on a longer-term basis," Bettman said. "That is the goal."

The NHL and NHLPA each need to agree upon any potential plan as they did for the 2020 return to play.

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The Vancouver Canucks haven't yet begun "substantive" extension talks with superstar forward Elias Pettersson, reports Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic.

The two sides have stayed in touch over the offseason and the lack of significant progress on a new agreement is nothing to be concerned over, Drance and Dhaliwal add.

The 2020-21 campaign will be the final season of Pettersson's entry-level contract and he's eligible for an extension at any point. However, the Canucks appear willing to take their time on a new pact for the 21-year-old as they navigate through the ramifications of a flat salary cap for the foreseeable future.

General manager Jim Benning said earlier in November that the pandemic is currently affecting the Canucks' financial flexibility when it comes to awarding head coach Travis Green a contract extension.

Vancouver is projected to have over $24 million in salary cap space before the 2021-22 season, and the club will also need to ink defenseman Quinn Hughes to a new deal by then.

Pettersson's next deal could easily reach over $10 million per season, with the left-handed shooter averaging 0.92 points per game across his first two seasons. The young Swedish sniper, who has a Calder Trophy on his resume, also registered 18 points in 17 games this past summer in his first taste of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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