NHL UPDATE: 24 TEAM PLAYOFF FORMAT

The 2019-2020 NHL regular season is officially over.
On Tuesday, May 26th, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced that league will transition into a 24-team, conferenced-based playoff format when play resumes.
He also announced and explained the specific details that the NHL will operate under once the playoffs begin.

Here are the details about the playoff format that Bettman outlined:

-There is no set start date for the return of play
-Two hub cities-one for Eastern Conference games and one for Western Conference games, which will be announced at a later date
-Teams will be limited to 50 personnel in their respective hub city. A small number of support staff will also be permitted in event arenas
-Phase 2 of the return to play plan is expected to begin in early June, but there's still no official date
-Phase 3 will include the start of training camp and is targeted for early July
-Phase 4, which has no target date yet, will include the return of play with clubs facing off in two hub cities for round robins, qualifying rounds, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs

The NHL is currently considering Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and Vancouver as hub cities.

In this particular playoff format, the top four seeds would be the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers.
The top four teams in the West would be the St.Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars.
Those eight teams will face off in a Round Robin in order to determine seeding for the First Round.

Check out my hockey blog @ hockeywiztalks-hockey.blogspot.com
also visit my facebook page: MrHockeywiz777 and Instgram: mrHockeywiz77

Here's what the play-in round in each conference will look like:

East:

5 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 12 Montral Canadiens Canadiens
6 Carolina Hurricanes vs. 11 New York Rangers
7 New York Islanders vs. 10 Florida Panthers
8 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. 9 Columbus Blue Jackets

West

5 Edmonton Oilers vs. 12 Chicago Blackhawks
6 Nashville Predators vs. 11 Arizona Coyotes
7 Vancouver Canucks vs. 10 Minnesota Wild
8 Calgary Flames vs. 9 Winnipeg Jets

Bettman also announced that the league has not yet decided if it will be a bracket format or determined by seeding following the opening round.
The First Round will be in a best-of-five series format while the Second Round will transition to a best-of-seven series format.
The Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals will also be in a traditional best-of-seven format.

Check out my podcast later this week on MrHockeywiz777's Youtube Channel or on Soundcloud.com/MrHockeywiz777 for a breakdown and predictions of the play-in round matchups frm each Conference.

Comments

Fantasy Hockey Keeper League Advice

Keeper leagues add a layer of strategy and long-term planning to fantasy hockey. Every keeper league has its own unique rules and scoring settings, so adjust your strategy accordingly. By following these tips and adapting to your league's specific dynamics, you can increase your chances of long-term success. Here are some tips to help you dominate your Fantasy Hockey Keeper Leagues. Number of Keepers and League Settings When deciding on keepers, it is very important to know how many keepers the league allows you to keep and the league scoring system, because there are players that work better in H2H CAT leagues as opposed to H2H leagues with standard scoring categories. If you can only keep a few players, focus on those who provide the most value in your specific scoring format. Keep players who excel in categories that are heavily weighted in your league (e.g., power-play points, hits, blocks, faceoffs). If the league uses Rotisserie or Points settings, you will have to take that...

2024 Offseason Preview ft. New Jersey Devils

The New Jersey Devils the playoffs in the 2023-24 season after making it into the second round of the playoffs last season, and finished the season with a total of 81 points, a 38-39-5 record; With Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier in the midst of their primes, the New Jersey Devils really need to start to buckle down and put together the pieces for a contending team. The good news is that the New Jersey Devils have the benefit of having the 10th overall pick, which they could move to acquire a netminder, and they also have plenty of cap space to add other players as well. This coming offseason is a big one for the New Jersey Devils front office because after striking out on a netminder last offseason, the pressure to acquire a netminder this offseason is immense for GM Tom Fitzgerald, who might be on the hotseat if he can't find a way to fix the mess. Before the 2024 NHL Draft, the New Jersey Devils make two major trades New Jersey Devils acquire Jacob Markstrom, Matthew Coronato, 1st...

2024 Offseason Preview ft. St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues just missed out on the playoffs again in the 2023-24 season, and finished the season with a total of 92 points, a 43-33-6 record; St. Louis is one of those teams that has no direction, as they are stuck with a lot of aging players with bad contracts and are stuck in mediocracy unless they can find a way to move some of those contracts. Moving forward the Blues' primary goals should be trying to unload their bad contracts to gain picks and cap space and retool through the draft. St. Louis has 8 draft picks in the 2024 NHL draft, this is who they should select. 2024 NHL Draft: 16-Michael Hage (C) 48-Spencer Gill (D) 56-Carson Wetsch (RW) 81-Timur Kol (D) 94-Hagen Burrows (LW) 113-Felix Lacerte (C) 145-Dawson Cowan (G) 209-Jan Golcic (D) 211-Maxim Velikov (RW) Though no big names jump out at you, this group of prospects is pretty solid and could play a vital role on the team a few years down the road. Retooling the Prospect pool is a long process, but the cr...

Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

Search This Blog

Fanatics Jersey