NHLPA board voting on 24-team, conference-based playoff format

The NHL Players’ Association’s executive board started voting Thursday on a proposed 24-team, conference-based playoff format for a potential restart to the 2019-20 season this summer. Results of the voting could be available as early as Friday night.

The playoffs would be conference-based and would remain bracketed, replacing the divisional wild-card format the league has used since 2013. The top four seeds, as determined by their standings points percentage when the regular season was paused, would receive byes through a round of best-of-five play-in series that would feature seeds 5 through 12.

Those play-in series would determine which teams advance to a traditional 16-team Stanley Cup playoff bracket, which would have seven-game series.

The NHL likely will utilize only two “hub” cities for its restart from the coronavirus pandemic if the proposed playoff format is approved by the league and the NHLPA, an NHL source told ESPN. The NHL explored using four “hub” arena sites for the restart. Commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday that eight or nine locations are under consideration.

Fans will not be allowed at the games, and logistics remain a work in progress.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a perfect scenario where everyone’s super excited about,” Nashville’s Ryan Johansen told The Associated Press earlier Thursday. “As long as everybody can agree and be happy with the decision that will be made, that’s really all that matters.”

The NHLPA executive committee met Thursday to discuss the format and other return-to-play issues. When asked about the proposed format and the hub-city plan, deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN in an email, “I’m not aware of any agreement yet. Don’t want to jump the gun on anything.”

The proposed format also would have the top four seeds participating in a three-game tournament during the play-in round, thereby alleviating concerns from top teams that they could be rusty and facing sharper teams coming off first-round games. It hasn’t been determined if the mini-tournament among the top four conference teams will have an impact on seeding.

After the opening round, the No. 4 seed in each conference would face the winner of the matchup between the Nos. 5 and 12 seeds, with the No. 3 seed meeting the winner of the 6-11 matchup. The No. 2 seed would play the winner of the play-in series between the Nos. 7 and 10 seeds, with the conference’s top seed awaiting the winner of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 series.

Under the proposed format, the seeding and play-in series would be as follows:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Top seeds: Boston Bruins (1), Tampa Bay Lightning (2), Washington Capitals (3), Philadelphia Flyers (4)

Play-in series: Pittsburgh Penguins (5) vs. Montreal Canadiens (12), Carolina Hurricanes (6) vs. New York Rangers (11), New York Islanders (7) vs. Florida Panthers (10), Toronto Maple Leafs (8) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (9)

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Top seeds: St. Louis Blues (1), Colorado Avalanche (2), Vegas Golden Knights (3), Dallas Stars (4)

Play-in series: Edmonton Oilers (5) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (12), Nashville Predators (6) vs. Arizona Coyotes (11), Vancouver Canucks (7) vs. Minnesota Wild (10), Calgary Flames (8) vs. Winnipeg Jets (9)

Expanding the Stanley Cup playoffs from 16 to 24 teams has been favored by the NHL as an equitable solution for teams that were near the playoff bubble when the season was paused. For example, just four points separated the now-11th-seeded Coyotes from the final wild-card spot, and they had 12 games remaining in the season.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.