Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley is confident the NHL will resume in 2021 but isn't sure it will be by Jan. 15.

A recent report from TSN's Pierre LeBrun indicates the league is moving on from its original Jan. 1 target and a mid-January start is being discussed between the NHL and NHLPA.

"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.

LeBrun's report also said schedules of 52 or 56 games are being considered. The league is against the idea of staging a season shorter than 48 games - the same number produced during the lockout-abbreviated 2013 campaign.

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.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.