A 24-Team NHL Playoffs Format Could Look Exactly Like This

By Daniel Miller -

The sporting world is dealing with an unprecedented turn of events at the moment, and no sport is safe. Leagues have been canceled, games have been postponed, and training sessions are no longer what they used to be. Changes are also occurring within the NHL, and the season has been on pause since mid-March due to the ongoing pandemic. However, it seems as though a new way of playing could be on the cards, and it seems as though the NHL is debating whether a 24-team playoff could be the way forward. Here’s what it would look like...

A 24-Team NHL Playoffs Format Could Look Exactly Like This

The Four Main Cities

To begin with, it seems as though the NHL would assign four main league cities to act as the hosts for division-based playoff tournaments. At the moment, it’s believed that these four cities would be across both the United States and Canada.

Assigning the Teams

Then, each of the four divisions within the NHL would be assigned a hub that would come in the form of one of those league cities. The top six teams within this division would then qualify for the postseason and report to the hub that they have been assigned.

A 24-Team NHL Playoffs Format Could Look Exactly Like This

Playing Them Out

When the hubs and the divisions are assigned, the number one and number two seeds would play against each other, and the same for the number three and the number six seeds, and also for the number four and number five seeds. The games would be a best-of-three series, and the winners would bag the right to continue playing.

The Playoff Tournament

As this comes to an end, there should be just four remaining qualifiers left within each division. Therefore, 16 playoff teams altogether. A seeding structure would then be put in place to ensure that these games could go ahead as a playoff tournament.

Yes, big changes may be coming to the NHL.