Alexander Nylander #92, Chicago Blackhawks (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
The NHL changed the qualifying round for the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs from best-of-three to best-of-five because of Patrick Kane. In theory, more games benefit the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Chicago Blackhawks will benefit from a five-game series more than any other team. For starters, under Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, they’ve started the first round of the playoffs slow. If it was a best-of-three series, the Blackhawks could be out in two games.
The beautiful thing for Chicago is this, their younger players will get at least three games of playoff experience, to take for years to come, if they don’t make it past the qualifying round.