The history of professional hockey can sometimes be... weird. There's no really kind way to explain some of the things that happened in the 1920 offseason, which really wasn't all that atypical of the freewheeling days of the first two decades of pro hockey.
Jack Connolly, as usual and despite officially being "outside" the sport, caused some of the issues. Connolly had been making noise for the past several years about starting a new league. While he specifically mentioned the United States on more than one occasion, in 1920 he was talking about putting a team in Quebec City. The Champlains were "a disgrace" according to Connolly and he'd bring "the kind of talent the city deserves" in his new and thus far unseen hockey loop. The NAHC panicked at this news - they hated Connolly and wanted to head him off at all costs. Bert Thomas of Toronto went so far as to "loan" his most prized player, young winger Jack Barrell, to Quebec for the season. Ottawa offered up both Jim Beyer and Pete Vandenburg - both refused to go to Quebec. Barrell at least showed up. And Paddy O'Donoghue, who had announced his retirement, was paid handsomely to come back for "one more season" after all four NAHC clubs ponied up the cash. Connolly may have been chuckling as he watched the NAHC react to his bombast.
1919-20 marked the end of a tumultuous decade for both the world, and professional hockey. And throughout that decade, one thing that had been a near constant in pro hockey was the top-notch play of the Ottawa Athletic Club. The Athletics had been the NAHC's top club numerous times, and had not posted a losing record (twice finishing at .500) in any NAHC season going back to 1909-10. For the most recent seasons, Ottawa had been the league's top club time and again and that was certainly the case in 1919-20.
The Athletics posted an 18-6 mark to cap their decade of dominance and then followed it up with a thrilling three games-to-two win in the Challenge Cup Final over the Vancouver Pacifics of the TCHA. It was hockey's worst-kept secret that the Athletics rode on the otherworldly goaltending abilities of Davey Vert. The Hamilton-born netminder was far and away the best in the business and his ability to stop the puck allowed his team mates to play a more aggressive brand of hockey that resulted in a slew of Ottawa goals. The Athletics tallied 132 goals against just 75 allowed as Vert's 3.08 GAA was far below that of the other NAHC netminders. On offense, Efrem Massicotte continued to be the focal point, scoring 28 goals (3rd-best in the league) with a league-best 16 assists, to finish just a point behind Montreal star Gevis Murphy in the scoring race.