As the NHL and the NHL Players' Association continue to go back-and-forth on when the 2020-21 season will start and what it will look like, commissioner Gary Bettman noted on Wednesday that the league may have to use a modified "bubble" model depending on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in various markets.

"Right now, we're focused on whether or not we're going to play in our buildings and do some limited traveling or play in a bubble, and that's something we're working on and getting medical advice on," Bettman said on Wednesday during a virtual panel discussion at the World Hockey Forum in Moscow.

The NHL - alongside other sports leagues around the world - were forced to shut down in March of last season due to the virus. Months later, the NHL finished its season with hubs in Edmonton and Toronto. Bettman says he doesn't want to play the entire upcoming season in another bubble, but says they might have to "adjust" with COVID-19 cases rising in both the United States and Canada.

"So, for example, we have a couple of clubs that can't hold training camp or conduct games even without fans in their current buildings and facilities, and we're going to have to move them somewhere else to play," explained Bettman.

"If enough teams can't play, again, without fans, in their own facilities, then we may have to move more and more towards a hub. It may be that some teams are playing in other buildings. It may be that a whole group of teams have to play in other buildings."

On Tuesday's Insider Trading, TSN's Frank Seravalli said the San Jose Sharks are one of the teams that may be forced to play somewhere else to start the season due to restrictions in their home state of California.

"I’m told they’re planning to open training camp in Scottsdale, Ariz., at the practice facility of the Arizona Coyotes," said Seravalli. "And moving forward, I’m told that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has sought the counsel of Dr. Anthony Fauci from the National Institute of Health over the course of this pandemic and one of the recommendations that Dr. Fauci had made to Bettman over the last number of weeks was if you want to pull this off and start the NHL season safely, the best way to do that would be in hubs. That’s not the preference of both clubs and players, but I’m told that hubs very much remain a Plan B and are on the table. So, lots still in the air with less than a month until that start date target."

Bettman also noted that the plan right now is for teams to play in their own realigned divisions with the seven Canadian clubs having a division of their own to limit travel.

"We may have to, only for the regular season, have the Canadian teams play each other in Canada in one or more cities and then we have to realign the remaining 24 teams in the United States," Bettman said.

The commissioner said the hope is that they can get the season underway sometime in mid-January, but a full 82-game season is not feasible.

"It is clear that we will not be playing an 82-game schedule for the regular season, which we normally do, but we're going to try and play as many games as possible," he said.