NHL's Gary Bettman outlines return-to-play plan; Penguins-Canadiens matchup set

The NHL has a plan. Now, it just needs to find a way to implement it.

On Tuesday, Gary Bettman became the first commissioner of a major North American league to announce a detailed return-to-play plan. It involves 24 teams — 12 from each conference — in a playoff to complete the 2019-20 season that has been on hold since March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The top four teams in each conference would square off in a round-robin tournament to determine the highest four seeds, and the bottom eight teams would play in a qualifying round with best-of-five series.

The league’s plan has the Pittsburgh Penguins facing the Montreal Canadiens in a qualifying round to advance to the first round of the playoffs.

The plan also calls for two hub cities — one each for the Eastern and Western conferences — to serve as sites for the entire qualifying and round-robin rounds. Bettman identified Pittsburgh as a potential hub city. Also named were Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Toronto and Vancouver.

Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto’s office issued a statement after the return-to-play plan was revealed.

“The city supports the NHL getting back to business safely,” it read. “Our focus is on resuming activities in a way that is safe for fans, players, residents and all personnel.”

Bettman pointed out this is merely a plan, and everything is contingent on jurisdictions permitting play.

“Although we are anxious to get back on the ice, we will not do anything until we are assured by medical professionals and the relevant government authorities that is safe and prudent to do so,” Bettman said during a video address that was broadcast on NBC Sports and NHL Network.

No target dates were offered, but Bettman suggested training camps could operate “no earlier than July 1.” Considering the NHLPA has asked for such camps to last three weeks, the playoffs could not begin until late July under this plan, and the Stanley Cup could be awarded as late as October.

On Monday, the NHL offered details on how players could resume skating in small group by “early June.”

Some of the important details from Tuesday’s announcement:

• The regular season is officially over. The final 189 regular-season games on the schedule will not be played.

• Teams in the postseason will be seeded based on point percentage as of the final regular-season games played March 11. As a result, the Penguins (.623 point percentage) are the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference and will play the 12th-seeded Canadiens.

• The winners of the qualifying round would face the teams from the round-robin tournament in the first round.

• The teams in these rounds are:

City 1: Round robin for seeding in first round

1. Boston Bruins, 2. Tampa Bay Lightning, 3. Washington Capitals , 4. Philadelphia Flyers

City 1: Best-of-five qualifying round

• 5. Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 12. Montreal Canadiens

• 6. Carolina Hurricanes vs. 11. New York Rangers,

• 7. New York Islanders vs. 10. Florida Panthers,

• 8. Toronto Maple Leafs vs. 9. Columbus Blue Jackets

City 2: Round robin for seeding in first round

1. St. Louis Blues, 2. Colorado Avalanche, 3. Vegas Golden Knights, 4. Dallas Stars

City 2: Best-of-five qualifying round

• 5. Edmonton Oilers vs. 12. Chicago Blackhawks

• 6. Nashville Predators vs. 11. Arizona Coyotes

•7. Vancouver Canucks vs. 10. Minnesota Wild

•8. Calgary Flames vs. 9. Winnipeg Jets

• Each hub city must have secure hotels, arena, practice facilities and in-market transportation.

• Teams will be limited to 50 personnel in the hub city and a small number of support staff permitted to enter the event areas.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said to prevent any competitive advantage, any team whose city is a hub could be moved to a different hub.

• Timing and sites will be determined at a future date and will depend on medical conditions, testing ability and government regulations.

Whether the first and second rounds are best-of-five or best-of-seven series has yet to be determined. The conference and Stanley Cup Final will be best-of-seven. The league and players must also decide whether the playoffs will have hard brackets or will be reseeded as they progress.

Bettman also addressed the NHL Draft lottery, which is a complex process.

In basic terms, the first 15 picks of the draft will be awarded to the seven teams that did not qualify for the playoffs as well as the eight teams that don’t advance from the qualifying round.

After that, there is a series of draws and tiebreakers that will determine the order of the first round.

This is largely irrelevant to the Penguins, as they traded their first-round pick in this year’s draft to the Minnesota Wild as part of the trade that landed forward Jason Zucker in February.

Testing for coronavirus will be paramount to the plan and will be conducted daily once play resumes. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly offered few details but suggested a positive test would not have dire ramifications for the tournament.

“Our medical advisers (believe) that a single positive test, depending on the circumstance, should not necessarily shut the whole operation down,” Daly said. “Obviously, we can’t be in a situation where we have an outbreak that will affect our ability to play. But a single positive test, throughout a two-month tournament, should not necessarily mean an end for the tournament.”

Bettman suggested the league could conduct upwards of 25,000 to 30,000 tests throughout the playoffs at the cost of several millions.

As far as how this impacts the league beyond this season, Bettman suggested the 2020-21 season could be played in its entirety while potentially starting in November, December or even January. Bettman added he is hopeful fans would be allowed in buildings by that point.