My understanding is that it is NOT a 24 team playoffs. It is a 16 team playoff as always, but only 24 teams are in the running to get those 16 spots. After that, it is as ss88 describes.
Maybe my mind will change, but for now I don't have much interest in this unholy creation which serves no one but the owners.
As Damien Cox pointed out that in the last work stoppage (2005) Bettman had declared that a resolution had to be achieved by some date in March because playing hockey in July was unacceptable and not an option, or worded otherwise. His feelings are definitely different now.
Suddenly, anything’s possible for Gary (Mr. Flexible) Bettman. Funny, but that didn’t seem to be the way things operated back on Feb. 16, 2005 when Bettman unilaterally cancelled the 2004-05 season because it was “no longer practical to conduct even an abbreviated season.” Couldn’t dream of playing into July then. Couldn’t wait another day to cancel the season.
Accordingly, it appears there’s a plan being advanced by the return-to-play committee to stretch the 2019-20 season into August, maybe even September, and start the next one in December.
Be assured that whatever the league is planning, it is most definitely not primarily in the interest of hockey fans. It is for business purposes, pure and simple. The NHL will do almost anything to avoid letting its Canadian and U.S. television contracts roll over for another year. That’s what is driving this, not some sense of responsibility that fans are owed a completion to the season that came to an abrupt halt on March 12 because of the pandemic.
