Mercifully, the Detroit Red Wings 2019-2020 season may soon be officially ended.
According to reports, the NHLPA has agreed to a 24-team tournament which would eventually crown a Stanley Cup Champion.
If this becomes official, the Red Wings, who have the worst record in the NHL, would be one of the seven teams who would not be in the tournament.
The NHLPA has agreed to a 24-team tournament to resume play.
Once the final details are sorted out, this would mean the Red Wings season is over with 11 games left. https://t.co/BA2za3HzFj
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) May 23, 2020
According to Sportsnet, the 24-team tournament would likely be formatted as follows, though nothing is official yet.
From Sportsnet:
Under the NHL’s initial proposal, the top four seeds — based on points percentage — in the East and the West qualify for the post-season. The next eight teams in each conference will compete in a best-of-five play-in series, with the winners going on to face each conference’s top seeds.
Both the top four in the West and the top four in the East would be given a bye from competing in this play-in tournament but would play games against each other before the playoffs begin.
In the Eastern Conference, the opening round will play out like this:
• 5. Pittsburgh vs. 12. Montreal (winner plays four seed)
• 6. Carolina vs. 11. Rangers (winner plays three seed)
• 7. Islanders vs. 10. Florida (winner plays two seed)
• 8. Toronto vs. 9. Columbus (winner plays one seed)
And the Western Conference opening round shakes out as follows:
• 5. Edmonton vs. 12. Chicago (winner plays four seed)
• 6. Nashville vs. 11. Arizona (winner plays three seed)
• 7. Vancouver vs. 10. Minnesota (winner plays two seed)
• 8. Calgary vs. 9. Winnipeg (winner plays one seed)
Though the Red Wings were awful this season, I have to admit, I really wish we could watch their final 11 games of the season.
What about you?
