TSN’s Bob McKenzie discussed the league’s tentative daily schedule of games for the upcoming playoffs on TSN’s Insider Trading today. McKenzie stated the goal is to play three games a day in each of the hub cities of Edmonton and Toronto.
McKenzie noted that the tentative plan is to play games at noon, 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM local times in each of the hub cities. Because of the two hour time zone difference, this would give the league the ability to play six games a day.
The game times for the six games would be: noon, 2 PM, 4PM, 6 PM, 8PM and 10 PM ET.
Should add that the 12 noon-4 pm-8 pm template/schedule can/will be tweaked here and there on some days depending on TV scheduling/needs etc. Another way of saying I forgot to mention that on Insider Trading.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) July 7, 2020
The schedule means that the Capitals could be playing games at noon, 4:00 pm or 8:00 pm ET.
There has been some discussion that the round robin games for the top four seeds in each conference (Capitals) will be played at 4:00 PM local time, but that has yet to be confirmed. The reasoning is that the round robin games will adhere to regular season overtime rules (3-on-3 play) to decide the games, while the preliminary round games will adhere to usual playoff overtime rules, essentially playing overtime until the next goal is scored.
The NHL is letting teams open training camps this coming Monday and reportedly set to resume the season on Saturday, August 1 in Edmonton and Toronto in a 24-team Stanley Cup Playoff tournament.
- Return To Play Critical Dates
- Monday 7/13 – training camps open
- Sunday 7/26 – teams will arrive in Toronto (Eastern Conference hub), Edmonton (Western Conference hub)
- Saturday 8/1 – 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin
- Monday 8/10 – second phase of NHL Draft Lottery
- First week of October (unless there is a COVID-19 outbreak in at least one of the bubbles) – Stanley Cup awarded
- mid-October – 2020 NHL Draft (virtual)
- Sunday 11/1 – Free Agency opens
By Jon Sorensen
