Philadelphia Flyers: Round robin tournament could be used to determine seeding
The Flyers would take part in a three-game round-robin to determine playoff seeding.
It appears likely that the 24-team playoff will be approved by the players. There are still other things to be discussed, but the format itself has been agreed upon. Contrary to what was reported before, though, the Flyers would play a round-robin tournament to determine their playoff seeding.
The NHLPA Executive Board has authorized further negotiations with the NHL on a 24-team return to play format, subject to reaching an overall agreement with the League on resuming the 2019-20 season: https://t.co/SIzQYyooEE pic.twitter.com/9TftmApiGJ
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) May 23, 2020
The original word seemed to be that the top four teams in each conference would be based on points percentage. That would’ve put the Flyers as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. That would leave Boston, Tampa Bay, and Washington as the other seeds.
It turns out that may not be the case. While the rest of the playoff teams will be taking part in a five-game series, the top four teams would play a set of three games. The results from these games would determine who each team faces during the first official round of the playoffs.
So the Flyers, coming in as the fourth seed, could come out of those games as the number one seed in the East. That leaves a much broader list of opponents the Flyers could end up facing in the first round.
We mentioned before that as the fourth seed, the Flyers would face the winner of a Montreal and Pittsburgh series. While that could still end up happening, there are now six other teams they could end up facing. The other matchups in the play-in round are Carolina/Rangers, Islanders/Florida, and Toronto/Columbus.
The number one seed would take on the winner of the TOR/CBJ. The second seed would face the winner of NYI/FLA. And lastly, the third seed would take on the winner from CAR/NYR. So that opens up a new list of teams the Flyers could face if this format is to be officially accepted.
Out of all of the teams mentioned, Columbus and the Rangers are the teams the Flyers swept during the season series. The Flyers did still have one more game remaining against New York, though.
There are once again other factors the players and league would have to figure out. But it looks like this could be the format the league uses whenever the season is to resume.