WHERE DO they PLAY?
If you don’t know yet (which would be strange), the main news for you will be that the teams have canceled the advantage of home ice, and the entire playoffs will be held on “neutral territory” in two Canadian cities and with empty stands.
The Eastern Conference is based in Toronto, while Edmonton will host the Western Series, which will also host the Stanley Cup Final Series.
WHAT’S WITH THE SCHEDULE?
From the above point, it is logical to assume that the games will be held in a very tight schedule, practically one after the other and throughout the day. The league promises a schedule for the first rounds, where there will be at least 2-3 matches per day in each (!) Conference.
In general, after a long pause, a lot of hockey is waiting for us on a daily basis!
Let’s not forget about the unpleasant reason for the unforeseen stoppage of the season, because of which the upcoming playoffs look much less predictable than at normal times.
Certain clubs, such as Calgary and Edmonton, will indeed be short on roster players who declined to come purely for precautionary reasons.
But basically, it is still worth noting here about a serious number of hockey players who have recovered from illness, including in the last month at the team training camp. So, the virus has definitely affected a number of teams, including Tampa, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Toronto, etc.
A good example is the situation in Boston, where training was even canceled due to an inferior squad, and the team’s top scorer David Pastrnyak missed the entire training camp. The main goalkeeper Tuukka Rask also missed part of the training camp and experienced problems, but according to preliminary information, the Finn was absent due to injury.
Thus, it is clear that it is too early to draw conclusions about the readiness of the teams now. We can only guess about the current game form of these players and the general state within the teams, and we will try to consider each in more detail below separately.
