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Revision as of 16:01, 26 June 2020 by 174.102.135.102(talk)(Vancouver got ruled out as a host city)
A 24-team playoff format was announced on May 26, 2020, by commissioner Gary Bettman. Due to the fluidity surrounding COVID-19, the starting date will be announced at a later time. The playoffs will be held in two hub cities, with each city hosting all of the games for a conference. The current cities in the running to host games are: Chicago, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Toronto.[3]
The Boston Bruins made the playoffs as the Presidents' Trophy winners with the most points (i.e. best record) during the regular season. The Pittsburgh Penguins increased their postseason appearance streak to fourteen seasons, the current longest streak. For the first time since 1996, all California-based teams, the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks, missed the playoffs. Six Canadian-based teams made the postseason this year, the most since 1993. It also marks the first time since 1986 that all four teams in cities based in Western Canada made the playoffs. In addition, it marked the first time that both the Winnipeg Jets and Arizona Coyotes (the successor of the original Jets) qualified for the playoffs in the same season, as well as the first time the Coyotes made the playoffs since 2012. For the first time since 1999, all former WHA teams (Edmonton Oilers, Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes, and Colorado Avalanche) made the playoffs.
Playoff format
As announced on May 26, 2020, 24 teams (12 per conference) advance to this special conference-based playoff format based on the points percentage at the time the regular season was suspended on March 12. The top four teams in each conference will play in separate Seeding Round Robin tournaments to determine the seeding in the first round. These games will be played with regular season overtime and shootout rules, with the clubs accumulating points like the regular season, and any ties in the round-robin standings will be broken by the regular-season points percentage. The eight lower seeded teams in each conference will play in the Qualifying Round, a best-of-five series with playoff overtime rules. The winners of this qualifying round will then advance to face one of the round-robin teams in the First Round.[4]
On May 28, the NHL stated that both the round-robin tournament and the qualifying round will also count under playoff records, on the same day that the league declared the winners of the stats-based regular-season NHL awards.[5] The league then announced on June 4 that all series after the qualifying round will remain a best-of-seven series, but will be re-seeded after each round.[6]
The playoffs will be held in two hub cities, with each city hosting all of the games for a conference. Health and testing protocols will be implemented at these sites. On May 26, the league released a shortlist of possible cities: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and Vancouver.[4] On June 23, the list of hub cities was shortened to Chicago, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver.[3] At the beginning of this process the NHL stated that the Canadian government's 14-day quarantine restrictions for anyone entering that country would have to be relaxed in order for a Canadian city to be selected as a hub city.[7] The league came to terms on an agreement with the Canadian federal government on June 19, to use a cohort quarantine system to allow the candidacy of the three Canadian cities to continue.[8]
Playoff teams
The following teams qualified for the playoffs:[9]
The top four playoff teams in each conference will play in a round-robin tournament against each other to determine the final playoff seeding. These games will be played with regular season overtime and shootout rules, with the teams accumulating points like the regular season, and any ties in the round-robin standings will be broken by the regular-season points percentage instead of regulation wins.
The bottom eight playoff teams in each conference will play in a best-of-five series to determine which four teams will advance to the First Round. These games will be played with Stanley Cup playoff overtime rules. Seeding was determined by regular season points percentage.
Eastern Conference Qualifying Round
(5) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (12) Montreal Canadiens
Pittsburgh finished fifth in the Eastern Conference with 86 points in 69 games for a points percentage of .623. Montreal gained 71 points in 71 games for a points percentage of .500 to finish twelfth in the Eastern Conference. This will be the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with Montreal winning both previous series. They last met in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals, which Montreal won in seven games. Pittsburgh won two of the three games in this year's regular season series.
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(6) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (11) New York Rangers
Carolina finished sixth in the Eastern Conference with 81 points in 68 games for a points percentage of .596. New York gained 79 points in 70 games for a points percentage of .564 to finish eleventh in the Eastern Conference. This will be the first playoff meeting between these two teams. New York won all four games in this year's regular season series.
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New York Rangers
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Carolina Hurricanes
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New York Rangers
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Carolina Hurricanes
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New York Rangers
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Carolina Hurricanes
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(7) New York Islanders vs. (10) Florida Panthers
New York finished seventh in the Eastern Conference with 80 points in 68 games for a points percentage of .588. Florida gained 78 points in 69 games for a points percentage of .565 to finish tenth in the Eastern Conference. This will be the second playoff meeting between these two teams. Their only previous meeting was in the 2016 Eastern Conference First Round, which New York won in six games. New York won all three games in this year's regular season series.
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Florida Panthers
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New York Islanders
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Florida Panthers
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(8) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (9) Columbus Blue Jackets
Toronto finished eighth in the Eastern Conference with 81 points in 70 games for a points percentage of .579 and 28 RWs. Columbus had the same points percentage, but with 25 RWs they finished ninth. This will be the first playoff meeting between these two teams. These teams split their two-game regular season series.
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Toronto Maple Leafs
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Western Conference Qualifying Round
(5) Edmonton Oilers vs. (12) Chicago Blackhawks
Edmonton finished fifth in the Western Conference with 83 points in 71 games for a points percentage of .585. Chicago gained 72 points in 70 games for a points percentage of .514 to finish twelfth in the Western Conference. This will be the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Edmonton winning three of the four previous series. They last met in the 1992 Clarence Campbell Conference Finals, which Chicago won in a four-game sweep. Chicago won two of the three games in this year's regular season series.
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Edmonton Oilers
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(6) Nashville Predators vs. (11) Arizona Coyotes
Nashville finished sixth in the Western Conference with 78 points in 69 games for a points percentage of .565, winning the tiebreaker against Vancouver with 28 RWs. Arizona gained 74 points in 70 games for a points percentage of .529 to finish eleventh in the Western Conference. This will be the second playoff meeting between these two teams. Their only previous meeting was in the 2012 Western Conference Semifinals, which Arizona won in five games. These teams split their two-game regular season series.
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Nashville Predators
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(7) Vancouver Canucks vs. (10) Minnesota Wild
Vancouver finished seventh in the Western Conference with 78 points in 69 games for a points percentage of .565, losing the tiebreaker against Nashville with 27 RWs. Minnesota gained 77 points in 69 games for a points percentage of .558 to finish tenth in the Western Conference. This will be the second playoff meeting between these two teams. Their only previous meeting was in the 2003 Western Conference Semifinals, which Minnesota came back from a 3–1 series deficit to win in seven games. Minnesota won two of the three games in this year's regular season series.
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Vancouver Canucks
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Minnesota Wild
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(8) Calgary Flames vs. (9) Winnipeg Jets
Calgary finished eighth in the Western Conference with 79 points in 70 games for a points percentage of .564. Winnipeg gained 80 points in 71 games for a points percentage of .563 to finish ninth in the Western Conference. This will be the first playoff meeting between these two teams. This will also be the first Stanley Cup playoff meeting between these two cities since 1987. Winnipeg won the only game in this year's regular season series, which was played outdoors.
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Calgary Flames
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Television
To be announced is the television coverage for the qualifying round, particularly whether regional rights holders, both in Canada and the U.S., will also be allowed to televise the extra round for this year. Because the regular season ended prematurely, some local broadcasters did not reach their contractually required minimum of 70 games.[10]
This will mark the ninth postseason under NBC Sports' current 10-year contract for American television rights to the NHL. All national coverage of games will be aired on either NBCSN, the NBC broadcast network, NHL Network, USA Network, or CNBC. During the first round, excluding games exclusively broadcast on NBC, the regional rights holders of each participating U.S. team will produce local telecasts of their respective games.
In Canada, for the sixth postseason under Rogers Media's current 12-year contract, coverage will be broadcast by Sportsnet networks and CBC Television under the Hockey Night in Canada brand, and streamed on Sportsnet Now, CBCSports.ca (for games televised by CBC), or the subscription service Rogers NHL Live.