Playoff schedule for the first round leaked!

The 2024-25 playoffs are right around the corner and it sounds like we already have an idea of when the schedule will get underway. According to Graeme Nichols of The Athletic, the current president of the Ottawa Senators Cyril Leeder has leaked that “the league has informed teams that the Western playoffs are likely to open on the Saturday and the Eastern on the Sunday.”

However, there is still a lot of hockey to be played as the race to the Stanley Cup Playoffs is really heating up.

In the East, only two playoff spots remain up for grabs after the Senators clinched a playoff spot with a Detroit Red Wings loss to the Montreal Canadiens last night. It marks the first time that Ottawa will appear in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since the 2016-17 season. The first time fans will get to see captain Brady Tkachuk in playoff mode.

In the Western conference, there are three spots left now that the Los Angeles Kings have joined the Vegas Golden Knights as the two Pacific Division teams to seal playoff berths. The race for the Wild Card spots is tight with the Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks still fighting to get that berth. We all saw how Vancouver fought back last night, scoring three goals in the last minute to tie the game against the Dallas Stars and then getting the win in overtime. 

The playoff picture will likely change every day now until the start of the schedule, which apparently will be on next Saturday in the West, and on Easter Sunday in the East.