Hockey insider Elliotte Friedman said the National Hockey League plans to end its season by October 5, 2020. According to the journalist, the seventh match of the Stanley Cup series will take place on that date.
As you may recall, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced a decision to complete the regular season ahead of schedule with a 24 team play-off. Thus, every team except the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, and the Anaheim Ducks will get a chance to compete in the playoffs.
The four best clubs from each conference will play three matches in a round-robin format. These matches will allow clubs to change their seeding number in the playoffs. The remaining teams will hold a series of up to three victories in parallel to the round-robin tournament. The winners of these series will fall into the first round of the playoffs to the first four seeded conference teams.
From the first round of the series, teams will play up to four victories.
