Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

With the NHL season winding down, I wanted to take a look at the current NHL Playoff picture and how the First round matchups would look like, if the playoffs were to start today. Eastern Conference Atlantic 1. Boston Bruins-121 pts 2. Toronto Maple Leafs-98 3. Tampa Bay Lightning-94 Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs have already clinched a playoff spot, and the Tampa Bay Lightning are close to clinching. Metropolitan 1. Carolina Hurricanes-103  2. New Jersey Devils-102  3. New York Rangers-98  All of the top 3 seeds in the Metropolitan Division have already clinched a playoff spot. Wildcard 1. NY Islanders-87 2. Pittsburgh Penguins-84  Florida Panthers-83  Ottawa Senators-79 Buffalo Sabres-77 Washington Capitals-77 Detroit Red WIngs-75 The NY Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins currently hold the two wildcard spots in the Eastern Conference, with the Florida Panthers, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, Washington Capitals, and Detroit Red Wings on their tail. W...

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 facin...