Seattle, Islanders arena work on schedule for 2021-22 NHL season: report

The new arenas for NHL Seattle and the New York Islanders remain on schedule for opening for the 2021-22 NHL season, ESPN reported Wednesday.

The Seattle project was delayed for two days in March due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus but was allowed to continue because it was considered essential construction, Katie Townsend, vice president of corporate communications for NHL Seattle, told ESPN. Work on New Arena at Seattle Center, a $930 million project, began Jan. 21.

"We haven't lost any time, and at the moment there's no change to our schedule," Townsend said. "I think it's something where we have to have contingency plans, and be working on them, but we don't foresee it being a change in our schedule."

Seattle became the NHL's 32nd team on Dec. 4, 2018 and is scheduled to begin play in 2021-22.

Work on the arena for the Islanders at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, has been paused since March 27, part of a shutdown of non-essential projects. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week that restarting construction projects, with strict health guidelines, is part of the plan to reopen the New York economy, ESPN said.

"The governor has given some indication that selective construction will start up again in some time frame. So we're ready to go again," Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky said. "… Obviously, the most important thing is that you adhere to social distancing and you make sure the people on site are taking care of themselves. It's an open-air site, still, so we're hopeful that we'll be able to start the construction again when it's appropriate."

The Islanders, who have split home games between Nassau Coliseum and Barclays Center since the start of last season, broke ground on Sept. 23, 2019. Cuomo announced Feb. 29 that the Islanders would play all home games next season at the Coliseum.

The NHL season has been paused since March 12 with no timetable for it to resume.