WiNK

Right now, the NHL has just announced the new playoff format for the return of the 2019-2020 season. The format will be a 24-team playoff series, and there will be two hub/host arenas, which are still undecided. There have been some brackets already made, based on the standings of each conference, which is what we will be using to predict the playoffs. It seems as if the top four teams from each conference get a bye during the first round of the playoffs. As for the teams that don't get a bye, they will play in a best of five game series. In our opinion, the teams that get a bye will be at a disadvantage because the other teams will be more warmed up in playoff action.

Let's start with the Eastern conference, and we will go all the way to the Conference Final. Starting in the first round, going top to bottom, we have the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets. We say: Leafs in five games.

The next series is Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Montreal Candians. We have Pittsburgh winning in four.

The next series is New York Islanders vs. Florida Panthers, and our winner is the Islanders in four.

In NY Rangers vs. Carolina Hurricanes, our pick is the Rangers in five.

For our second round in the Eastern Conference, we have Toronto vs. Boston; Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia; NY Islanders vs. Tampa Bay; and NY Rangers vs. Washington.

For Leafs vs. Bruins, we have the Boston Bruins winning in seven games to go to Round 3.

For Penguins vs. Flyers, we have the Penguins winning in six.

In the Islanders vs. Lightning series, we have Tampa in five.

For the NY Rangers vs. Capitals, we have Washington roughing it out in seven games. This would leave us with Boston vs. Pittsburgh; and Tampa vs. Washington for a trip to the Eastern Conference Final. In Bruins/Penguins, we have Bruins in yet another hard-fought Game 7. And for the Lightning against the veteran Caps, we have the Tampa Bay Lightning in 6 games. Now for the conference final: Tampa Bay Lightning against the Boston Bruins, we have the Bruins in yet another Game 7 win to put them in the Stanley Cup Final.

Now for the Western Conference. For the first game of the first round, we have the Calgary Flames vs Winnipeg Jets, with the Flames winning in six.

Next, the Oilers vs the Blackhawks. We have the Oilers clean sweeping the Blackhawks in four games.

The third math-up is the Vancouver Canucks vs the Minnesota Wild. We have the Wild toughing it out in a gritty seven-game series.

For the final match-up of Round One, we have the Nashville Predators vs the Arizona Coyotes. We have the Preds winning this one in six.

For the start of the second round, we have the Flames vs the reigning Stanley Cup Champs St. Louis Blues, and the Blues taking this series in five games.

Next are the Edmonton Oilers vs the Vegas Golden Knights. The Oilers are going to take this series in five games.

Next are the Wild vs the Avalanche. The Avalanche will take this series in five.

For the final series in the second round, we have the Predators vs the Dallas Stars. The Stars are taking this one in a landslide five games.

The third round will compose of the Blues vs the Oilers; and the Avalanche vs the Stars. In the Blues vs Oilers match-up, we have the Blues winning in six. For the Avalanche vs the Stars, we have the Avalanche winning in five.

Now for the Western Conference final, which was kind of expected, we have the Blues vs the Avalanche. This will be a battle, but the Blues will pull out in the end winning a 7-game series.

Now we have a rematch for the Stanley Cup Final from last year. The Blues vs the Bruins. We have the Blues dominating this series and winning in six games, having back to back Stanley Cup wins.

We can't wait to get hockey back and see what happens.