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KHL suspends playoffs one week to create new format

KHL Playoffs

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MARCH 8, 2020: Spartak Moscow’s players celebrate their victory in Leg 4 of the 2019/20 KHL Western Conference quarterfinal playoff tie between Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Moscow at CSKA Arena. Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS (Photo by Stanislav KrasilnikovTASS via Getty Images)

Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

(UPDATE: The KHL has now pushed its playoffs back to at least April 10.)

The KHL is determined to continue the Gagarin Cup Playoffs, even as two of the remaining eight teams have voluntarily withdrawn from the tournament due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

After Finnish team Jokerit backed out of the playoffs over the weekend, Kazakh Barys also announced it would no longer be playing.

The KHL’s response: To suspend the postseason for one week to create a new format and schedule to complete the postseason with the remaining six games. What that format will look like remains to be seen. It is also not yet known if any other teams will back out if the league continues on with the playoffs.

The six remaining teams are CSKA Moscow, Dinamo Minsk, SKA Saint Petersburg, Sibir Novosibirsk, Barys Astana, and Salavat Yulaev Ufa.

Jokerit was supposed to play SKA Saint Petersburg in the second round, while Kazakh Barys was set to play Salavat Yulaev.

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.