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NHL announces plan to begin Stanley Cup Playoffs in summer

By David Souza

David Pastrnak Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak skates near hats on the ice after his goal against the Winnipeg Jets in the third period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, in Boston. It was his third goal of the night. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) (Elise Amendola/AP)

By David Souza

National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman announced on Tuesday afternoon that the league will resume play in the coming months and eventually award the Stanley Cup after a new-look playoff format. The NHL has been on pause since mid-March when the COVID-19 pandemic prompted work stoppages in multiple professional sports leagues.

The biggest news to come from the virtual press conference is the adoption of a 24-team playoff format that has been rumored for multiple weeks. Under the proposal, all but seven teams in the league will qualify for the postseason in some capacity.

The top four teams in each conference will automatically qualify for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, while the bottom eight teams in each conference will face off against one another in a best-of-five play-in round to determine the bottom four seeds for the first round.

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Those top four teams will play each other in round robin games to determine how the top four seeds will be awarded. The Boston Bruins currently sit atop the Eastern Conference standings with a league-best .714 points-percentage, the metric now used to determine how teams are originally seeded leading into the 2020 postseason.

There will be no additional regular season games for the NHL this season, meaning teams that have not already qualified for the playoffs under the rules will not be eligible to play any more games this season.

Joining the Bruins in the top four of the Eastern Conference are the Tampa Bay Lightning (.657), the Washington Capitals (.652) and the Philadelphia Flyers (.645). In the Western Conference, the St. Louis Blues (.662), the Colorado Avalanche (.657), the Los Vegas Golden Knights (.606) and the Dallas Stars (.594) will automatically qualify for the first round as their conference’s top four seeds.

The matchups for the play-in round are as follows in the Eastern Conference:

  • No. 5 Pittsburgh Penguins (.623) vs. No. 12 Montreal Canadiens (.500)
  • No. 6 Carolina Hurricanes (.596) vs. No. 11 New York Rangers (.564)
  • No. 7 New York Islanders (.588) vs. No. 10 Florida Panthers (.565)
  • No. 8 Toronto Maple Leafs (.579) vs. No. 9 Columbus Blue Jackers (.579)

And here are the play-in matchups for the Western Conference:

  • No. 5 Edmonton Oilers (.585) vs. No. 12 Chicago Blackhawks (.514)
  • No. 6 Nashville Predators (.565) vs. No. 11 Arizona Coyotes (.529)
  • No. 7 Vancouver Canucks (.565) vs. No. 10 Minnesota Wild (.558)
  • No. 8 Calgary Flames (.564) vs. No. 9 Winnipeg Jets (.563)

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But don’t expect to see the Stanley Cup Playoffs on your televisions for at least another month, if not more.

Starting sometime in early June, the league will allow teams to return to their home facilities to begin training in what they are calling Phase 2 of the NHL’s reopening. Phase 3 will begin sometime in July, though the commissioner noted it will not come before the first half of the month. In Phase 3, training camp will officially begin for teams.

Phase 4 will kick-off at an undetermined time following training camp. During that time, teams will report to their respective 'Hub Cities’ to begin the postseason. Each conference will play their games in one city, respectively, throughout the course of the playoffs. Neither the Eastern Conference nor the Western Conference has had their ‘Hub Cities’ determined yet, though the NHL did release a list of possible locations.

No city in New England or the New York area were listed among the options for Hub City locales:

  • Chicago, Ill.
  • Columbus, Ohio
  • Dallas, Texas
  • Edmonton, Alb.
  • Las Vegas, Nev.
  • Los Angeles, Calif.
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.
  • Pittsburgh, Pa.
  • Toronto, Ont.
  • Vancouver, B.C.

It has not yet been determined if the first and second rounds of the postseason - following the play-in round - will be best-of-five or best-of-seven series. The NHL did confirm that both the conference finals and the Stanley Cup Final will be best-of-seven series, while the play-in round series will each be best-of-five.

The play-in series will also follow the regular season’s overtime rules, meaning three-on-three OT and the shootout can still occur, while the rest of the playoffs will follow the standard postseason rules.

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