The NHL is going to “return to play”.
I’ll admit- I’ve been pretty skeptical about the plan and until now, haven’t really allowed myself to consider that it might actually happen. The Return to Play Format seemed incredibly ambitious and based on everything we know about this damn virus, it seemed like it was going to be very difficult to pull it off.
That combined with the fact that the Ottawa Senators were not involved, which is sort of bullshit by the way, meant that for the most part, I wasn’t really paying attention.
But watching the success of other leagues- including the PGA Tour, the Premier League and Major League Soccer- it’s clear that this is going to happen. There are going to be hiccups along the way and there’s going to be legitimate criticism over how the NHL handles the challenges that come up but it’s happening.
Hockey is coming back.
Sometime in October, a team is going to claim one of the strangest Stanley Cup Championships in the history of the sport.
With that in mind, let’s put the Byfield/Stutzle debate on pause for a day (it’s a Byfield day, by the way) and turn our attention to the NHL’s 24-team tournament.
The format is….chaotic.
When the games start for real next Saturday, there will be five or six games a day for nine straight days. The puck will drop at noon almost every day and the games won’t stop until well after midnight. If you’re working from home or have a family or basically any responsibilities, good luck!
The schedule includes round robin games to determine seeding, featuring the top four teams in each conference, and first round play-in games.
The round robin will include St. Louis, Colorado, Vegas and Dallas in the West and Boston, Tampa Bay, Washington and Philadelphia in the East.
The play-in rounds, which are clearly part of the playoffs despite the NHL gifting one of those teams the first overall pick, are all best of five series while the remaining rounds are best of seven. Teams will be re-seeded after the play-in round.
Here’s how the match-up break down in the play-in round.
EAST
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Montreal Canadiens
Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Rangers
New York Islanders vs. Florida Panthers
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
WEST
Edmonton Oilers vs. Chicago Blackhawks
Nashville Predators vs. Arizona Coyotes
Vancouver Canucks vs. Minnesota Wild
Calgary Flames vs. Winnipeg Jets
To summarize, there is going to be a ridiculous amount of hockey on our televisions over the next few months and it’s going to be…incredible. While the no fans thing takes some getting used to, it took me about 15 minutes to adjust to it while watching baseball last night. It’s odd but once the game starts, you barely notice.
So with hockey finally returning after four long months, this seems like a good time for a SensChirp contest.
All you have to do is pick the winner of each play-in round series and the number of games. One point for the correct team and one point if you guess the correct number of games. As a tie breaker, predict the player that will rack up the most points during the play-in round.
Most points wins a BIG ol’ yet to be determined prize. Whatever it is, it will certainly be worth the the 45 seconds it takes you to enter.
I’ll go first. REMEMBER- Best of five series in the play-in round. Here goes…
Pittsburgh in 3
Carolina in 4
Florida in 5
Columbus in 5
Edmonton in 4
Nashville in 4
Vancouver in 4
Winnipeg in 5
Point Leader- Mark Scheifele
Your turn! Submit your picks in the comment section below.
