The 2020 Memorial Cup may have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Canadian Hockey League will still launch a virtual edition of the event.

Sixty CHL players and four guest participants will partake in a 64-team Memorial Cup eSports tournament on NHL 21 using every club from the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL, the league announced Thursday.

“The growth of gaming and eSports offers a new opportunity to stay better connected with our fans," said CHL president Dan MacKenzie. "It is also a fun way to give our players a chance to showcase their skills in a format that many of them enjoy in their spare time.”

The tournament will feature a single-elimination format with a best-of-three series in the semifinals and finals. The event is set to begin Nov. 28 and conclude Dec. 17 with streaming available on Facebook Live and Twitch.

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Ottawa Senators goalie coach Pierre Groulx says Anders Nilsson is still battling concussion symptoms and his availability for the upcoming season may be in jeopardy as a result.

"Right now, it’s still status quo. He has good days and bad days," Groulx said, according to the Ottawa Citizen's Bruce Garrioch. "It’s still headache related and neck and eyes related and we’re going to wait to see him in Ottawa and see how he is. When he was hurt, he was playing outstanding hockey. It’s disappointing because (Nilsson) is such a great guy.

"You don’t want to see that happen but it’s an injury where you have to think of the health first. We’ll see what happens when he comes into Ottawa."

The 30-year-old suffered a concussion on Dec. 16 and didn't appear in a game the rest of the 2019-20 season.

Nilsson is the projected primary backup goaltender to newly acquired Matt Murray. The Senators have plenty of options if Nilsson is unable to go when the season eventually kicks off, including Marcus Hogberg and Joey Daccord.

The Swedish netminder appeared in 20 games during the 2019-20 season, recording a .908 save percentage and 3.18 goals-against average.

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Quinton Byfield will be with Team Canada from start to finish for the upcoming world juniors.

After Byfield spoke with Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake, the plan for him is to play the duration of the tournament even if it overlaps with the beginning of the NHL season, according to Scott Wheeler of The Athletic.

The NHL is hoping to start its 2021 campaign Jan. 1. The gold medal game at the world juniors is slated for Jan. 5.

Byfield - the No. 2 overall pick - and 45 others were invited to Canada's selection camp in late October. The longer-than-usual training camp began Nov. 16 and will end Dec. 13.

This year's world juniors are set to begin in Edmonton on Christmas Day. The entire event will be played at Rogers Place. No fans will be allowed in attendance due to COVID-19 protocols.

Canada won gold at last year's tournament in January with Byfield collecting one assist in seven games. Now 18, he's expected to play a much bigger role in driving the defending champions' offense.

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A recent NHL proposal to tweak the league's escrow structure to cope with the effects of the pandemic has left players feeling angry and betrayed, reports Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

The NHL and NHLPA held a meeting Wednesday, during which the league offered two proposals. The first asked for players to defer 20% of their salaries while escrow increases to 25%. The second asked players to defer 26% for next season, but escrow is left alone until Years 4-6 of the current collective bargaining agreement.

"There were audible gasps when this was presented," one player on the conference call told Friedman.

Before the league returned from its pause this past summer, the NHL and players' association agreed to 10% salary deferrals for the 2020-21 campaign, with escrow capping at 20% and lowering slightly each year until 2022-23. That deferred money is due to be repaid in three equal, interest-free installments in October 2022, 2023, and 2024.

The NHL is targeting a Jan. 1 start date for the 2020-21 campaign and is expected to hold a regular-season schedule of 48-to-60 games. Other hurdles the league is currently facing include division realignment due to border restrictions and whether fans will be able to attend games at limited capacities.

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Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen believes the club will lock up blue-chip pivot Pierre-Luc Dubois before training camp begins.

"I'm 100% sure it will get done," Kekalainen said Wednesday, according to NHL.com's Tom Gulitti.

"We've been in this situation before where we've had RFAs that want to take their time to agree on a contract, and we respect that and they have that right," Kekalainen said. "But I'm confident he'll be signed before training camp starts."

It remains unclear when training camp will begin, but the NHL is targeting Jan. 1 as opening day for the 2020-21 campaign.

Dubois, 22, is a restricted free agent and paced the Blue Jackets with 49 points through 70 games in 2019-20 before notching a team-best four goals and 10 points over 10 playoff contests.

The 6-foot-3 center has tallied 65 goals and 158 points in 234 games since being selected third overall by the Blue Jackets in 2016.

Columbus has $9.22 million in projected cap space with no outstanding restricted free agents beyond Dubois.

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Aesop once wrote that "slow and steady wins the race," and it appears U.S. Customs is doing its best to pay tribute to the classic fable.

On Wednesday, Vancouver Canucks goaltender Braden Holtby's wife, Brandi, asked her Twitter followers for help with a pet-related problem.

Later, she explained in a reply that the couple filed papers with the Canadian government but didn't realize they needed to do the same with the American authorities.

She also reiterated that Braden himself can't get into Canada because of the issue.

The netminder signed with the Canucks in October after playing 10 seasons with the Washington Capitals.

In May, the two animal lovers rescued a trapped kitten with the help of some passersby.

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General manager Steve Yzerman continues to steer the rebuilding Detroit Red Wings in the right direction, but he knows he still has a lot of work to do.

"Yeah, I think so," Yzerman said Wednesday on NHL Network when asked if he's happy with the direction of his team after its offseason additions. "Obviously we have a lot of work to do. ... Every team feels good about their offseason but the players that we've added I think will help us."

Yzerman has been one of the league's busiest executives since the opening of the free-agency period. He's added the likes of Vladislav Namestnikov, Bobby Ryan, Thomas Greiss, Troy Stecher, and Jon Merrill.

He also re-signed two key players in Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi. Mantha secured a four-year contract worth $22.8 million, while Bertuzzi was awarded a one-year, $3.5-million deal in arbitration.

The Red Wings experienced a historically bad season last year, going 17-49-5 and finishing dead-last in the league. Despite the tough campaign, Yzerman feels hopeful about the future thanks to the team's young stars and recent draft picks.

"Our younger players performed well. You mentioned Tyler and Anthony and Dylan Larkin and Filip Hronek," Yzerman said. "Robby Fabbri did really well coming over from St. Louis, so if we can slowly add to that group with maybe one or two younger players again this year and keep adding to the group slowly over time, we're hopeful as some of these younger players that the Red Wings have drafted over the last two-to-three years slowly move into the lineup and continue to try to improve the team slowly each year."

Detroit has selected Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, Filip Zadina, and Michael Rasmussen within the top 10 of the past four NHL drafts.

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