re this year s vs next year s playoffs let s fill in some winners here well since someone probably wanted to know here s this year s playoff matchups on the left and what the matchups would be next year under the new alignment and playoff matchup rules the same teams make the playoffs under next year s rules and three of the first round matchups are the same que mtl chi stl van win pit chi pit chi pit chi nj stl buf stl nyi det was det que tor nyi det nyi bos tor mtl cal bos det van was van bos van buf win nj win bos van que cal bos det que cal mtl la nyi la just my thoughts chris downec rpi edu
