NHL Announces that Edmonton and Toronto will be Hub Cities For the Stanley Cup Playoffs

NHL Announces that Edmonton and Toronto will be Hub Cities For the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Earlier in June, I wrote a piece on why I believed that Las Vegas should be a hub city for this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. Less than a week after that article had been published, the NHL announced that Las Vegas would indeed host the Playoffs. 

Since many of Las Vegas’ hotels and casinos reopened on June 4, the city of Las Vegas and the state of Nevada have unfortunately seen a spike in coronavirus cases. Naturally, my views have changed on Las Vegas’ qualification to host the playoffs, and apparently, so have the NHL’s.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie announced that “barring any last-minute complications,” Toronto and Edmonton will host the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This was later confirmed by Sportsnet. 

It is likely that Toronto will host all of the Eastern Conference Playoffs leading up to the Conference Finals while Edmonton will host the Western Conference Playoffs. Edmonton will also host both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals as well as the Stanley Cup Final due to its low number of coronavirus cases. 

With Phase Two of the league’s plan to return to play underway, Phase Three is set to begin on July 10 though there have been reports that it could be delayed by at least three days. At this rate, the league will return to play around the beginning of August. 

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Coronavirus cases are currently on the rise in the United States, so it’s only fair that the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs are held north of the border.

Pierson Scheinberg

Pierson Scheinberg is a student who lives in California, and attends the College Preparatory School. Pierson lived in Baltimore, Maryland until August 2017 when he moved to the Bay Area. Pierson is an avid golfer who enjoys watching all sports. He is a writer and sports analyst for At the Buzzer.