NHL Announces Plan for Resumption of Play and Stanley Cup Playoffs

However, no timetable has been set, and resumption of play is not guaranteed

National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman announced the league’s plan to resume the 2019-2020 hockey season, which was suspended March 12th due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Bettman cautioned that nothing is guaranteed and that many issues including health and safety concerns will have to be worked out. The status of the Covid-19 pandemic will be the most important determining factor. But settling on a framework and format for resumption of play is an encouraging step forward.

Under the plan, the remaining regular season games of the 2019-2020 season will not be played and the regular season is over. The playoff field, normally 16 teams (eight per conference), will be expanded to 24 teams, 12 per conference, based on point percentage. The top four in each conference will play separate round robin tournaments to determine seeding. The remaining playoff eligible teams will be seeded by conference and play best of five qualifying series. The winners of the qualifying series will play one of the round robin teams in the first round. It has not been decided how long the first and second rounds will be. The Eastern and Western Conference finals and Stanley Cup Finals will be best of seven.

The playoffs will be held in two “hub cities” as yet to be determined. Though the NHL has not ruled out that the conference finals and Cup finals could be played in the teams’ home arenas, there would have to be significant changes to the Covid-19 situation, and they will probably keep the hub city format. Games would also be played without fans present.

Here’s highlights from Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals, won by the St. Louis Blues: