Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Report: NHL planning full days of hockey once postseason begins

Golden Knights vs Oilers in Edmonton

Codie McLachlan/The Canadian Press via AP

Edmonton Oilers’ Gaetan Haas (91) battles against Vegas Golden Knights’ Ryan Reaves (75) during first-period NHL hockey game action in Edmonton, Alberta, Monday, March 9, 2020.

Grab some snacks and a drink because once postseason hockey begins, there’s going to be a lot of it.

The NHL is planning three games a day in each Canadian hub city — Toronto and Edmonton — starting at noon local time, according to a report from TSN’s Bob McKenzie.

The Golden Knights will be assigned to the hub in Edmonton, meaning their games will start at either 11 a.m., 3 p.m. or 7 p.m. Pacific Time, depending on the day’s schedule.

The plan is for games to start at noon, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. in both Toronto and Edmonton.

Since Toronto is in the Eastern Time Zone and Edmonton in the Mountain Time Zone, that means six games a day starting in the morning in Las Vegas.

For Pacific Time viewers, an Eastern Conference game would start at 9 a.m. and a new one would start every two hours: at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The plan is to space games out every four hours in each hub to factor in overtime, which is continuous in the playoffs and does not result in a shootout.

Most regular season games clock in at just under three hours, but throw in the potential of multiple overtimes, and games could easily exceed their allotted times.

If that happens, it would just push back the next start time, McKenzie said, comparing it to tennis tournaments where matches can start at midnight local time.

To prevent long overtime games from disrupting the schedule in the qualifying round, where 12 teams are competing, the round-robin games, which include the Golden Knights, would all be the middle game of the day — 3 p.m. in Las Vegas.

The round-robin games are played under regular season overtime rules with a five-minute overtime and a shootout, which would guarantee a shorter game in the middle of the day to keep the later one on schedule.

The Golden Knights will play the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars in a three-game round-robin for seeding, while eight other teams will compete in a best-of-five play-in series to advance to the Round of 16.

Once the Round of 16 starts, the Golden Knights will play under playoff overtime rules.

Games are scheduled to begin Aug. 1 after an agreement made Monday between the NHL and the Players’ Association.