Summer of hockey
NHL unveils plans for 24-team playoff with training camps in July
The NHL became the first North American professional league to unveil a return-to-play plan Tuesday when Commissioner Gary Bettman announced a 24-team playoff format.
Teams seeded Nos. 5-12 in each conference will play a best-of-five qualifying series. At the same time, the top four teams in each conference, including the Avalanche, will play each other in a round-robin format to determine playoff seeding.
“Since March 12, we have been hopeful and optimistic that, while developing all options and alternatives, we could get to this point,” Bettman said on NBCSN. “We believe we have constructed an overall plan that includes all teams that, as a practical matter, might have had a chance to qualify for the playoffs when the season was paused.
“This plan will produce a worthy Stanley Cup champion who will run the postseason gauntlet that is unique to the NHL.”
Bettman left open the possibility that
the first two rounds (following the qualifying round) could be best-of-five. The conference finals and Stanley Cup Final will be best-of-seven.
A rundown of the NHL’s plan:
• The NHL is currently in Phase 1 of its re-boot, which includes allowing a maximum of six players, plus team staffers, in the facility at one time. Phase 2 will be early June, when teams can return to home facilities for voluntary, small-group workouts. Phase 3 will be a formal training camp and will be no earlier than July 1. Phase 4 will be when the playoff teams report to their assigned hub cities.
“While we are anxious to open camps as soon as possible, we don’t envision doing so before the first half of July,” Bettman said.
• Two “hub” cities will be chosen, one for each conference, to host the playoff rounds. The finalists are Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vancouver. Bettman said the two cities will not be selected for at least three weeks.
Each “hub” city will have secure hotels, arena, practice facilities and in-market transportation. Teams will be limited to 50 personnel in its traveling party. The two cities will have comprehensive COVID-19 testing.
Bettman said it’s possible the Stanley Cup Final could be played in the two competing markets.
• Matchups for the qualifying round in the Eastern Conference will be No. 5 Pittsburgh vs. No. 12 Montreal, No. 6 Carolina vs. No. 11 New York Rangers, No. 7 New York Islanders vs. No. 10 Florida and No. 8 Toronto vs. No. 9 Columbus.
The Western Conference will be No. 5 Edmonton vs. No. 12 Chicago, No. 6 Nashville vs. No. 11 Arizona, No. 7 Vancouver vs. No. 10 Minnesota and No. 8 Calgary vs. No. 9 Winnipeg.
These games will be played with regular-season overtime rules. It is undecided if the league will re-seed after the qualifying round.
In the round-robin for the top four teams in each conference, the Avalanche will play St. Louis, Las Vegas and Dallas in the West. Boston, Tampa Bay, Washington and Philadelphia will play each other in the East.
• Bettman did not provide specifics on when the 2020-21 regular season will resume but hypothetically a two-month playoff tournament that begins July 15 and ends in mid-September would certainly move the next regular season into late 2020 or early 2021.
The Avalanche last played March 11, a 3-2 overtime home win over the New York Rangers, and were second in the Central Division (two points behind St. Louis) when the season was suspended. The Avalanche will be making its third consecutive playoff appearance.
“We’re doing this because we’re hearing from our fans overwhelmingly that they would like us to conclude the season (and) they want the game back,” Bettman said.
Ryan O’Halloran: rohalloran@denverpost.com or @ryanohalloran