Though we won’t know the exact details of the new CBA until it’s ratified, one thing is for certain: only 16 teams will make the playoffs this season.
“No expansion of the Playoffs being contemplated for this year (and I don’t think any is being contemplated beyond this year either),” deputy commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an email to Puck Daddy.
It was reported last week before a tentative CBA was reached that the NHL and NHLPA were internally discussing a 20-team postseason. But apparently that’s as far it went.