Let’s say, hypothetically, the 24-team conference-based Stanley Cup Playoffs format that Elliotte Friedman reported Wednesday night comes to fruition. It would mean, based on points percentage, the Calgary Flames would play the Winnipeg Jets in the only all-Canadian matchup — with the winner theoretically going on to face the top-seeded St. Louis Blues.
Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk was a guest on Fan 590’s Good Show Thursday and was asked about the proposed post-season format.
“I don’t really give people my complete honest answer until I [find] out all the facts or [know if] it’s actually true or not, or what the deal with all that is,” Tkachuk said. “But [what] I will say is I found out about it through my buddies here in St. Louis, because I guess what it was saying on Twitter is we’ll play Winnipeg first round in a best-of-whatever series, and the winner plays the Blues and that got my buddies pretty fired up here.”
The 22-year-old is the son of former Blues star Keith Tkachuk and has been quarantining with his family in St. Louis. Tkachuk was born in Arizona when his dad played for the Coyotes but spent his youth in St. Louis after Keith was traded to the Blues in 2001.
“They’d love to see me play against the Blues and especially in a playoff series,” he said. “That would be kind of a dream scenario for them.”
The Flames and Jets were scheduled to play twice in March but had only met once in 2019-20. The Jets won that game 2-1 in overtime back in October. They went 0-1-2 in three games against the Blues this season.
Calgary has never faced the current Jets franchise in post-season action and the lone playoff series versus the Blues was in the 1986 conference finals.
“As far as if [a 24-team playoff] is fair or if it’s not fair, you’re not going to come up with a scenario that’s gonna make everybody happy realistically so I just want to get back to playing,” added Tkachuk who said he’s been working out about four or five times a week during the NHL’s indefinite hiatus.
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