It appears the NHL will be back in the middle of January featuring a 56-game hockey season.

A report from ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski Tuesday said the league is preparing a 56-game season that will kick off on January 13th.

It’s huge news and comes a day after more news surrounding the NHL season. The league and player association have been in a reported standstill for weeks in regards to season talks over financial disputes.

On Monday night, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that there would be a 10-day camp with no exhibition games. Dreger also reported that while there’s work left to be done, the expectation is the NHL Board of Governors will approve the plan.

Dreger added that there “will be no more discussions on proposed financial changes” to a memorandum of understanding in terms of the CBA.

The big question remains how the league will schedule games. Will they have an all-Canadian team division? Time will tell.

As FlamesNation editor Ryan Pike noted on Twitter, a typical NHL season is 184 days long, or roughly 2.24 days per game. Pro-rating that over a 56-game season, it would be about 126 days long if the season started on Jan. 13 meaning the season would, in theory, end around May 18.

On Twitter: @zjlaing