NHL headed directly to the playoffs with 24-team field
The league announced Tuesday the regular season is over, plan is to go to postseason
The NHL is coming back.
The league took a big step Tuesday toward completing its 2019-20 season amid the coronavirus pandemic. Commissioner Gary Bettman announced a 24-team playoff format that was accepted by the Players’ Association through a vote that concluded Friday night.
The tournament will feature the top 12 teams in each conference, with seeds based on points percentage and calculated using every team’s record at the time of the pause. The top four seeds in each conference would automatically advance to the traditional round of 16, but seed Nos. 5 through 12 would have to play their way in.
The tournament will be played in two hub cities to be announced at a later date, Bettman said – one for the Eastern Conference playoffs and one for the Western Conference playoffs. Potential cities include Chicago, Columbus, Las Vegas, Edmonton, Vancouver, among others.
Seeds and projected matchups
If early proposals hold true, the opening round is expected to consist of fivegame series, with the first team to win three advancing. The matchups:
Eastern Conference
No. 5 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. No. 12 Montreal Canadiens
No. 6 Carolina Hurricanes vs. No. 11 New York Rangers
No. 7 New York Islanders vs. No. 10 Florida Panthers
No. 8 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. No. 9 Columbus Blue Jackets
Western Conference
No. 5 Edmonton Oilers vs. No. 12 Chicago Blackhawks
No. 6 Nashville Predators vs. No. 11 Arizona Coyotes
No. 7 Vancouver Canucks vs. No. 10 Minnesota Wild
No. 8 Calgary Flames vs. No. 9 Winnipeg Jets
The top four teams in each conference will play three round-robin games — one against each of the other top seeds in their conference. This is to determine the top playoff seedings.
In the East, that would include No. 1 Boston Bruins, No. 2 Tampa Bay Lightning, No. 3 Washington Capitals and No. 4 Philadelphia Flyers.
And in the West, it would be the defending champion St. Louis Blues as the No. 1 seed, along with No. 2 Colorado Avalanche, No. 3 Vegas Golden Knights and No. 4 Dallas Stars.
Which teams are out?
The seven teams at the bottom of the NHL standings — Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres — are effectively done for the season.
Vincent Z. Mercogliano