There continues to be more evidence that the National Hockey League has a plan to restart their season, as NHL Player’s Association is voting on a proposed 24-team playoff format. If accepted, the structure of a conference-based format with the top four teams receiving byes and the remaining eight facing off in a best-of-five preliminary series appears likely.
The eighth-seeded Toronto Maple Leafs would face a opening matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets, with the winner of that series playing the #1 seed (whoever wins a mini-tournament between Boston, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and Washington).
That path seems challenging for the Leafs, who were playing inconsistently when the league paused on March 12, but defenseman Tyson Barrie believes that the talented Toronto club is well positioned to succeed.
"At this point, all I've got to do right now is focus on getting ready to play if we are going to play and to take a run with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs. That's why they brought me in and that'd be pretty spectacular, so hopefully we get a chance to do that." Barrie said in a conference call on Wednesday. "I think we've got as good a chance as anybody, I think with the skill on our team and we're fairly young team. If anybody can come out of this thing ready to rock, it's going to be us. We've got some guys with incredible talent and it'll be interesting to see what the games are like with no fans, but I know that we've got skill, we've got speed and we've got youth on our side, so I think we should have no problems coming out of this thing."
Toronto will have the advantage whenever the playoffs begin of a rested club with a nearly full roster of healthy players (something that was not the case for most of the regular season), but that will also be the case for all the teams in the post-season and especially Columbus, who had a number of key players on the injured list in March.
Barrie is facing the uncomfortable prospect of unrestricted free agency in an off-season where NHL revenue are uncertain and teams willing to spend will be few and far between, but that likely does not mean that the 28-year-old blueliner will be willing to take a short-term deal or sign for another year in Toronto.
"It's a weird time to be heading into free agency, that's for sure." Barrie said. "I think with everything going on, and we're still not certain on what's going to play out here for the last (part) of the season and playoffs. Obviously, that extends into free agency and the draft, so it's an odd time."
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