Board 8 > NHL Discussion Topic 4: Playoffs in September

(+) Yeah! (+)

Building on Discussion Topic 3's title of "Playoffs in August", based on the timeline laid out September looks good. Though this'll probably purge since we're due for a month-plus of inactivity but wanted to get this out there anyways... maybe topic 5 will be "Playoffs in October" depending on when training camp begins.

Bettman announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks5eQ2GjtSc

High level summary

-Regular season is done
-Training camp no earlier than July 1
-2 hub cities to be identified, playoffs to be played in those cities
-12 teams per conference playoffs; top 4 teams play a round-robin to determine seeding order, remaining 8 teams play a best-of-five
-following rounds TBD on whether they're bracket-based or done on seeding, and best of 5 or best of 7 (conference and stanley cup finals still best of 7)
-Per Bettman, anticipate the qualifying and first two rounds to take "a little over a month", so when you add in the conference and stanley cup finals and no training camp before July 1... September is looking pretty good
-Draft lottery is a bit more convoluted but Ottawa has the 2nd and 3rd (by way of San Jose) top odds of first overall pick, so, hell yeah

https://i.imgur.com/jnp22Oj.png

@davidponte Toronto possible hub city... of course Bettman doesn't explicitly say the games will be played in empty arenas but you gotta assume that's the case... but still!!!

In the Eastern Conference:

Top 4 round-robin:
Boston
Tampa Bay
Washington
Philadelphia

Qualifying best-of-5 series:
Pittsburgh/Montreal
Carolina/NY Rangers
NY Islanders/Florida
Toronto/Columbus

And in the West:

Top 4 round-robin:
St. Louis
Colorado
Vegas
Dallas

Qualifying best-of-5 series:
Edmonton/Chicago
Nashville/Arizona
Vancouver/Minnesota
Calgary/Winnipeg

@Shadow_Dino CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS IN THE PLAYOFFS!!! All it took was a once in a generation global pandemic.

Well folks, it happened. The Wild made the playoffs :(

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SmartMuffin posted...

Well folks, it happened. The Wild made the playoffs :(

Not true. The NHL for whatever reason is not officially considering the best of 5 series as playoffs.

Ah damn, you're right. I took the "regular season is over" a little too literally, I guess that's to keep the sanctity of there "only" being 8 playoff teams in each conference, the qualifying round is really considered some weird kind of no-man's-land purgatory. Like the fabled "Game 163" tiebreakers in baseball.

But it's still playoff-ish!!

The show must go on basically on this news.

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Am I the only one who thinks that having playoffs at all at this point is dumb? Serms like it would be better to just call this season a wrap and move on to the next.

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redrocket posted...

Am I the only one who thinks that having playoffs at all at this point is dumb? Serms like it would be better to just call this season a wrap and move on to the next.

Don't necessarily disagree but also am dying for real live sports that are on earlier than 2:30am. Golf doesn't count.

Biggest disappointment is with this setup we are unlikely to have any California teams playing til next season, and there is likely going to be a big delay on that start.

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Pens > Habs in 5
Canes > Rangers in 4
Islanders > Panthers in 3
Leafs > Blue Jackers in 4

Oilers > Hawks in 4
Coyotes > Preds in 5
Canucks > Wild in 4
Flames > Jets in 5

Bruins > Leafs in 3
Lightning > Islanders in 3
Canes > Capitals in 5
Pens > Flyers in 5

Blues > Flames in 4
Avalanche > Canucks in 3
Golden Knights > Coyotes in 4
Oilers > Stars in 4

Bruins > Pens in 6
Lightning > Canes in 5

Blues > Oilers in 7
Avalanche > Golden Knights in 7

Bruins > Lightning in 5
Avalanche > Blues in 6

Bruins > Avalanche in 6

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Whiskey_Nick posted...

Bruins >

CEASE

only one number today matters to me

Ottawa Senators - 25%

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Wait...news?

Wild in a "playoff?"

Ok.

*Falls asleep until it happens*

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Congrats @MartinFF7 for your fantasy win!
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Oh damn

The ridiculous micro-managing during the season worked out... I won't learn any lessons before next season.

Minnesota actually has very limited numbers of COVID, but lol at NHL bringing it here. Would like the work though.

If not, that means the Hockey Lodge is done. Probably done working there too. 3 jobs is a bit much to stretch me thin.

Would be nice to get back to just being a fan...as cynical and angsty I get.

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honestly they're waiting way too damn long

training camp needs to start tomorrow


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20% of the league is in Europe and needs to find a way back

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So which team getting 1st overall and drafting Lafrenire would be the biggest meme? Pittsburgh? Edmonton? Phoenix for all the rigged comments?

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Whiskey_Nick posted...

20% of the league is in Europe and needs to find a way back

doesn't Canada have an Air Force and/or Navy

what in the fuck could those possibly be for if not securing the international passage of hockey players?

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ESY16 posted...

So which team getting 1st overall and drafting Lafrenire would be the biggest meme? Pittsburgh? Edmonton? Phoenix for all the rigged comments?

Pittsburgh will end up with the #1 pick and the Stanley Cup because God hates me

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tag

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SmartMuffin posted...

Pittsburgh will end up with the #1 pick and the Stanley Cup because God hates me

Nah only the teams that lose in the qualifying round are eligible for the first overall pick, so, at worst you'll only suffer one of those fates.

Edmonton would be the best because they'd have to lose 3 of 5 to the Blackhawks... and getting the first overall pick after wasting all those other first overall picks, it'd be too perfect.

Now here's something to think about: if I'm reading the summary of the drafting correctly, because "Phase 1" draft occurs before the qualifying matches, we would know for sure whether a qualifying-loser club had won the first overall pick or not - we just wouldn't know which one until phase 2.

And since every qualifying-loser club has an even 12.5% chance, it begs the question; 12.5% odds for first overall are better than your odds of winning the cup, aren't they? What other reason to go for a playoff run - gate revenue? There's probably going to be zero gate revenue in their hub city plan. It'll be "Tank qualifying for 12.5%" time!!

ugh that's all so dumb

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I mean I understand why they did it that way, because it's unknown you gotta even out those bottom 8 slot's odds

https://i.imgur.com/BMjYhUI.png

Not sure why they really have to do the draft on June 26... guess that's some CBA stuff, to get it in before July 1?

Still only a 24.5% chance we run into a "kinda wanna tank" scenario

it's just the lottery in june, right? draft TBD?

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right right, I mixed that up/used the wrong word. But I still haven't seen an explanation why they couldn't put off the lottery (though I also haven't looked that hard). I mean everything else is being pushed off...

Yeah, not sure how I feel about all this. On one hand I want more sports, but on the other this feels so late. We aren't going to get any games until August at this point, which is just going to delay the next season even more. I'd rather call it a wash and literally wait one extra month for normally scheduled hockey in September.

The draft lottery, draft, and free agency can hold me over until then.

In terms of the format here, this is shaping up to theoretically be the hardest cup to win ever considering the amount of games to be played and the position these teams are in. I'm sure that won't stop every fan of every team that doesn't win from saying it doesn't count, of course. It would absolutely be a Leafs thing to finally end the drought with no fans, no parade, no celebration, and in a way which other fans will doubt the legitimacy of.

I also can't wait for one of the Penguins or Oilers to get the first pick because the hockey gods hate us all.

I would have been fine with taking the top 16 teams as well, which is easy to say when my team is in that group. The Blackhawks, Habs, and Wild shouldn't be rewarded for being mediocre and straight up bad, and the Coyotes scored like 11 goals over the course of the entire season, no one wants to see them play playoff hockey.

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MartinFF7 posted...

@davidponte Toronto possible hub city... of course Bettman doesn't explicitly say the games will be played in empty arenas but you gotta assume that's the case... but still!!!

I'm in Europe right now as well, so I couldn't even take advantage of this even if they did allow fans which is absolutely not happening.

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July 1st for training season makes sense, it gives the players from Europe and across North America about two weeks to report back to their teams plus they all have to self quarantine for two weeks.

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