Updated deadlines for the Montreal Canadiens to pay attention to

Teams are going to have five days to prepare as the target date for Phase 4 is August 1st. This is two days after those initial predictions from Friedman and likely a result of the delayed voting.

Then comes the Second Draft Lottery. Remember that?

Since Team E won the First Draft Lottery, we still don’t know who is going to get the first overall pick. All we know is that it’ll be one of the eight teams who do not win their Stanley Cup Qualifier series. That wild event is set to take place on August 10th, and if the Montreal Canadiens are one of those teams, they’ll have a 12.5% chance to win. Pessimistically, if the NHL doesn’t resume, the Habs will still be included in that draft lottery with the same odds.

McKenzie didn’t include a date, but with the lottery being on the 10th, we can assume that the official beginning of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs will be on the 11th or 12th.

As for a team actually winning the championship, that is going to happen in early October. That’s semi-consistent with Friedman’s report, which stated October 5th as being the last possible day for the Stanley Cup Final. Again, the push of training camp is going to have a domino effect.

Then comes the actual NHL Draft expected to be in mid-October, which aligns with the NBA’s draft. We’ll see Alexis Lafrenière go to whoever Team E ends up being, but that could also be the first time since the deadline where we see trades. Player transaction is a given at the draft, but this year’s might see even more with the flat cap coming into effect for the next 2-3 years.