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The NHL's plan of attack to resume season

Date: May 27, 2020

By: Michael Daly

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Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports

In a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced a plan for the league to return to play. The regular season will be discontinued, and 24 teams will take part in a playoff format for the remainder of the season.

Each conference will have 12 representatives with the top-four seeds in each conference playing in a round-robin tournament. The remaining eight teams in the two conferences will play in a qualifying round that is a best-of-five series. The NHL is deciding between a total of 10 cities in the United States and Canada, and the league is expected to pick no more than two cities.

The 10 cities under consideration as hub cities in the United States and Canada include Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Toronto, and Vancouver.

The two cities that the 24 NHL teams will play in will maintain the playoff formats for the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. The United States and Canada have different rules with quarantine protocol, and this could be an issue for the league when it comes to playing in Canada.

“If, in fact, we’re not able to really – the interpretation of the quarantine consistent with our players’ ability to travel in and not have to do a strict self-quarantine in a hotel room, I don’t think we’d be in a position- I shouldn’t say I don’t think,” said NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly on the potential issue with using a Canadian city as a hub city for the playoff format. “We won’t be in a position to use any of the Canadian cities as a hub city. We’re faced with having to find a solution to that, and hopefully we can.”

Based upon the standings when the season stopped, the top four teams in the Eastern Conference will be No. 1 Boston Bruins, No. 2 Tampa Bay Lightning, No. 3 Washington Capitals, and No. 4 Philadelphia Flyers. The qualifying matchups in the Eastern Conference will consist of No. 5 Pittsburgh Penguins vs No. 12 Montreal Canadiens, No. 6 Carolina Hurricanes vs No. 11 New York Rangers, No. 7 New York Islanders vs No. 10 Florida Panthers, No. 8 Toronto Maple Leafs and No. 9 Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Western Conference’s playoff seedings are No. 1 St. Louis Blues, No. 2 Colorado Avalanche, No. 3 Vegas Golden Knights, and No. 4 Dallas Stars. The qualifying round shapes out as No. 5 Edmonton Oilers vs No. 12 Chicago Blackhawks, No. 6 Nashville Predators vs No. 11 Arizona Coyotes, No. 7 Vancouver Canucks vs No. 10 Minnesota Wild, No. 8 Calgary Flames vs No. 9 Winnipeg Jets.

The qualifying round will be a best-of-five series and the first two rounds are still to be determined if they will be five or seven game series. The conference finals and Stanley Cup Final will be best-of-seven series.

The exact timetable for the NHL’s return is not certain at this point but teams will likely be able to open their facilities for voluntary workouts in the early part of June. Training camps are expected to start no earlier than July 1 and they will last roughly three weeks before the playoffs.

If the NHL is able to return this summer, they will open up operations in multiple phases. The NHL believes that four phases will have to occur in order to start the season in the two hub cities.

“Our hope is that by the time we open Phase 2 – and Phase 2 is where our clubs can open their training and practice facilities, we can make them available for small group activities by the players,” said Daly. “Our strong hope is that most, if not all, of the 24 teams come back with the ability to test their players prior to engaging in Phase 2.”

In the news conference, Commissioner Bettman also outlined how the NHL hopes to conduct 25,000 to 30,000 tests for the coronavirus on the players, and members of each organization. The testing allows the league to consistently perform tests and keep track of everyone in the two hub cities.

“If you’re looking for a number, we could be doing 25,000 to 30,000 tests. You just do the math,” Bettman said in the conference. “That will be a relatively insignificant number compared to the number of tests that will be available. If you do the math again in terms of number of tests, the costs, you’re talking about millions of dollars.”

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Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images

The league’s plan comes on the heels of states opening up and allowing professional teams to return to their practice facilities. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy recently announced that professional sports franchises in their states are welcome to resume training and continue playing games without fans in attendance.

This announcement impacts the Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers are in an interesting situation because the team’s training facility is located in New Jersey, despite playing games at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

“Professional sports teams in NJ may return to training and even competition- if their leagues choose to move in that direction,” Governor Murphy said. “We have been in constant discussions with teams about necessary protocols to protect the health and safety of players, coaches, and personnel.”

The New Jersey Devils did not make the cut for the 24-team playoff format, which means that their season is over. Based on Governor Murphy’s declaration, the Devils can theoretically train and workout even though they are not competing in the playoffs.

The return to play was not the only announcement made by Commissioner Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Daly on Tuesday. The NHL also has a plan for the NHL draft which will happen in phases. The draft lottery is scheduled for June 26 and the seven teams that did not qualify for the playoffs will be in the lottery drawing. The eight losing teams in the qualifying round will participate in the lottery but their slots will be undetermined in the initial phases.

The NHL has a long road ahead to reopen, but Tuesday’s announcements are a step in the right direction for the league. In the coming weeks, the NHL eyes a concrete set of dates for a return. The NHL’s plans certainly open the door for the NBA and MLB to follow suit and open back up for the summer.

Michael Daly is the Station Manager for 89.5 FM WSOU, and can be reached at wsoustationmanager@gmail.com.

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