By Canadian Press

NHL unveils further details on its return-to-play plan

Jun 4, 2020 | 12:33 PM

The NHL has unveiled further details regarding its return-to-play plan.

If the league is allowed to resume the pandemic-hit 2019-20 season this summer, the playoff portion of the schedule will feature the usual four rounds of best-of-seven series.

The NHL announced the 24-team format last week, but had yet to iron out certain details, including whether or not the first two rounds of the playoffs would be best-of-five or best-best of seven.

Along with the decision on series length, the NHL said today that teams will be re-seeded after each playoff round instead of being placed in a bracket.

The return-to-play blueprint — which will eventually require the approval of health and government officials to get off the ground in two so-called “hub” cities — would begin with separate round-robin tournaments for the top-4 clubs in both the Eastern and Western Conference.

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The other 16 franchises would take part in eight best-of-five qualifying round series, leaving the NHL with its traditional 16 teams for the playoffs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2020.

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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press