So, I decided to take a look at this year and last year's schedule and in 2011-12, the last Regular Season game was April 7th. The last Regular Season game in 2012-13 is April 27th.
That is a full 20 days later.
the Playoffs in 2011-12 started on April 11th and lasted until June 11th. Here's a chart looking at recent seasons, when the last game of the Regular Season was. When the first game of the Post Season was and the Final Game of the Playoffs..
Last Reg. Game
1st Playoff Game
Last Playoff Game
2005-06
April 18
April 21
June 19
2006-07
April 8
April 11
June 6
2007-08
April 6
April 9
June 4
2008-09
April 12
April 15
June 12
2009-10
April 11
April 14
June 9
2010-11
April 10
April 13
June 15
2011-12
April 7
April 11
June 11
2013 April 27 ?? (April 30) ?? (June 25-30)
The most common denominator here is that the Playoffs start 3 days after the last game of the season. This would cause the Playoffs to start on April 30th in my (guessing) estimation. Each season the Playoffs last around 2 months. All of them except the 2010-11 season have lasted more than 2 months.
Simply put, there's a chance that we could see the Stanley Cup raised in the month of July!
Most indications however point to the Cup being raised between June 25 and June 30th which is far deep than the June 19th Cup Raising after the 2055-06 season.
Be prepared to have the chance to watch some guys playing on ice while you are swimming in your outdoor pool and spraying yourselves down with Tanning Lotion! There's an outside chance you could be celebrating the 4th of July and the Stanley Cup being raised this year!
