A Winning Habit
Fansided

A 24-seeded playoff format could benefit the Montreal Canadiens

By Omar L

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 16: The Montreal Canadiens skate in warm-ups prior to the game against the New York Rangers in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 16, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 16: The Montreal Canadiens skate in warm-ups prior to the game against the New York Rangers in Game Three of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 16, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 3
Next
Montreal Canadiens
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 03: Montreal Canadiens (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images) /

The NHL is experimenting with different ideas for the playoffs, and if it’s a 24-team tournament, the Montreal Canadiens may catch teams by surprise.

Things may get pretty goofy in the NHL if there comes a time where it starts up again. With the league on pause, NHL owners are discussing how the rest of the year is going to play out. The initial belief was that it would be about a week or two before training and practice facilities open up. However, with the new recommendation from the Cente of Disease Control, it looks as if we may go even longer without watching the Montreal Canadiens play.

The CDC announced their recommendation on Sunday that all events with 50 or more people should be cancelled or postponed for the next eight weeks. The NHL may be able to get away with that if they ban fans from arenas. However, they would scratch the max line when taking into account both teams, coaching staff, management, and building staff, to name a few.

If that’s the case, we won’t see NHL hockey until May. It’ll be tough to see the NHL want to have a regular-season play out in May if there needs to be time to have a mini-training camp for players to get back in the groove of things. Therefore, the league is exploring a scenario where the NHL jumps right into the playoffs.

Darren Dreger touched on some of these alternatives already, including an event where the top 16 teams in the league make the playoffs.

Home/Editorials