NHL Drops The Board For The Cup Final

The league is laying out its possible championship-series paths, which is NHL-speak for getting the building, the broadcast windows, and every nervous front office on the same page. The actual Final matchup is still the only thing that matters, but the schedule release is the kind of housekeeping that tells you the league is already thinking two steps ahead. When the Cup Final gets mapped out this early, everybody from arena ops to TV partners starts lining up behind the curtain.