Chirps from Center Ice

Ho hum with these anymore.

League release here. Penguins release here.

TL;DR every team in the Eastern Conference like last year, Hershey and Lehigh Valley 12 times each. You see one schedule release, you see them all. But, for posterity, let’s do the thing.

1) Do you have a schedule matrix of opponents? Anyone in the Conference we are not playing?

2) Longest road trip? Longest home stand?

Four game home stand in March, spanning a week. No more than three games on the road. Charlotte trip around Thanksgiving, a Canada trip around Christmas and the other Charlotte trip in January.

3) How many three in threes?

Two. One in October. One in March. The benefit of a 72 game schedule.

4) Can I borrow your highlighter? I want to circle and highlight all the Sunday and worknight home games!

Two Sunday home games. One in February and one in March. Ten Wednesday games.

5) Show me more charts!

6) Any, “I have to close the door and act busy at work” dates on the calendar?

Nope.

7) The All Star Classic, are they doing that this year?

Laval. February 5 and 6, provided COVID doesn’t derail it like it has the last two seasons.

8) Anything else I need to know?

The Saturday home games start at 6:05 again. I don’t mind it, but they started it last year with something in mind with the earlier start and never did anything with it. But the 6:05 starts on Saturday home games remain a thing.

9) Playoff structure?

From the League release, cited above, it will stay the same. 23 teams make it.

The playoff field will include the top six finishers in the eight-team Atlantic Division, the top five finishers each in the seven-team North and Central Divisions, and the top seven teams in the 10-team Pacific Division. First Round match-ups will be best-of-three series; the two highest seeds in the Atlantic, the three highest seeds in each of the North and Central, and the first-place team in the Pacific will receive byes into the best-of-five Division Semifinals, with the First Round winners re-seeded in each division. The Division Finals will also be best-of-five series, followed by best-of-seven Conference Finals and a best-of-seven Calder Cup Finals series.

10) You mentioned preseason games yesterday. Where are they?

A Wednesday morning preseason game against Hershey? Oof.