The NHL’s two hub cities will be quite busy once play officially resumes.
The league plans on holding at least three games a day in the reported hub cities, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, meaning at least six games could be played each day. Games are expected to be scheduled around 12 p.m., 4 pm. and 8 p.m. local time.
Toronto and Edmonton are the two cities that reportedly will host the 2019-20 Stanley Cup playoffs. There’s a two-hour time difference between the hubs, meaning games could span across a 15-hour window.
So, what would happen if games go into overtime? That’s where things get interesting, McKenzie reports.
“And I know you’re going to ask me, ‘Well, what happens if there’s multiple multi-overtime games? Because it’s Stanley Cup Playoffs and its unlimited overtime.’ And my answer to that would be … that’s hockey. That’s the way it goes,” McKenzie told Gino Reda on TSN’s “Insider Trading” on Tuesday.
“I can also tell you, though, in the preliminary rounds when you’ve got four placement teams in the East and the West, the top four teams in each conference playing seeding games, there is an unlimited overtime. So what they will do there, they’re regular-season overtime and shootout. They would put those games in the 4 o’clock spot to try and make up time if the first game of the day goes really long or to give yourself a finite finish time so they can get to the evening game. But that’s basically how it’s going to work. And it could be like U.S. Open (Tennis) once we get into the playoffs … that it’s not unheard of to start prime matches at midnight.”
Training camps begin July 13, and the qualifying rounds are expected to start Aug. 1.
