Stanley Cup playoffs 2020 Everything we know about

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The NHL is continuing to inch closer to a return.Commi sioner Gary Bettman last month announced the steps the league and the NHLPlayers' A sociation agreed upon to move forward, including the official ending of the 2019-20 season, a 24-team return-to-play format and how the draft lottery will look.Translation? There's still a lot to be ironed out and, it needs to be noted,nothing is guaranteed due to the COVID-19 pandemic but one thing appears to be more and more likely: a 2020 Stanley Cup champion will becrowned."I want to make clear that the health and safety of our players, coaches, e sential support staff, our communities are paramount," Bettman said during the reveal of the format May 26."While nothing is without risk, ensuring health and safety has been central to all of our planning so far and will remain so. Let me a sure you that the reason we are doing this is because our fans are telling us in overwhelming numbers that they want us to complete the season, if at all po sible, and our players and our teams are clear that they want Jrue Holiday Jersey to play and bring the season to its rightful conclusion."When it'll happen is still in flux because of such things as location, COVID-19 testing and mandatory 14-day quarantines to anyone entering Canada.MORE: Phase 2 of the NHL's return plan began June 8,with Phase 3 and training camps tentatively slated to start on July 10.Here's everything we know so far about the NHL's potential return to the ice in Phase 4:Is the 2019-20 season over?Yes. Bettman announced the 2019-20 season has officially concluded.With that information, the Boston Bruins are the 2019-20 Presidents' Trophy winners (100 points), backstopped by their William M. Jennings Trophy winners Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak.The Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl captures his firstArt Ro s Trophy with 110 points and Alex Ovechkin and David Pastrnak finishthe season with 48 goals each to split the Rocket Richard Trophy. Ovechkin, who notched his , now has nine goal-scoring titles to his name.MORE ON: | | How many teams will return to play?As reported by, the league, the players and the Return to Play Committee have agreed ona 24-team format.John Carlson, speaking on , New Orleans Pelicans Jersey not a huge fan of the reported 24-team playoff format: 24 teams sounds like a lot of teams to me if Im being honest. Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) The top 24 teams based on points percentage teams had not all played the same number of games when the season was paused on March 12 are seeded 1-12 in each conference. Seven teams will not resume play and will automatically enter the draft lottery.Eastern ConferenceSEEDTEAMRECORDPTS. PCT.1Boston Bruins44-14-12.7142Tampa Bay Lightning43-21-6.6573Washington Capitals41-20-8.6524Philadelphia Flyers41-21-7.6455Pittsburgh Penguins40-23-6.6236Carolina Hurricanes38-25-5.5967New York Islanders35-23-10.5888Toronto Maple Leafs36-25-9.5799Columbus Blue Jackets33-33-15.57910Florida Panthers35-26-8.56511New York Rangers37-28-5.56412Montreal Canadiens31-31-9.500Western ConferenceSEEDTEAMRECORDPTS. PCT.1St. Louis Blues42-19-10.6622Colorado Avalanche42-20-8.6573Vegas Golden Knights39-24-8.6064Dallas Stars37-24-8.5945Edmonton Oilers37-25-9.5856Nashville Predators35-26-8.5657Vancouver Canucks36-27-6.5658Calgary Flames36-27-7.5649Winnipeg Jets37-28-6.56310Minnesota Wild35-27-7.55811Arizona Coyotes33-29-8.52912Chicago Blackhawks32-30-8.514Teams that will not returnTEAMRECORDPTS. PCT.Buffalo Sabres30-31-8.493New Jersey Devils28-29-12.493Anaheim Ducks29-33-9.472Los Angeles Kings29-35-6.457San Jose Sharks29-36-5.450Ottawa Senators25-34-12.437Detroit Red Wings17-49-5.275How would the playoffs work?Here's what we know:There will be normal conference playoffs, meaning Eastern Conference teams will play Eastern Conference teams and Western Conference teams will play Western Conference teams. Before those take place, however, there will be a "Qualifying Round" to set the playoff field.Round- Darius Miller Jersey robin for top-four teamsThe top four seeds in each conference will receive byes from the Qualifying Roundand will play around-robin for seeding purposes for the usual first round of the playoffs (16 teams). If these games go to overtime, thenthey'll be played under regular-season overtime rules. If there is a tie in points at the conclusion of the round-robin, percentage points from the regular season will be used as a tiebreaker.Eastern ConferenceSEEDTEAMRECORDPTS. PCT.1Boston Bruins44-14-12.7142Tampa Bay Lightning43-21-6.6573Washington Capitals41-20-8.6524Philadelphia Flyers41-21-7.645Western ConferenceSEEDTEAMRECORDPTS. PCT.1St. Louis Blues42-19-10.6622Colorado Avalanche42-20-8.6573Vegas Golden Knights39-24-8.6064Dallas Stars37-24-8.594Qualifying RoundThe teams seeded 5-12 will face off in this round. These series will be best-of-five matchups and will feature the usualplayoff overtime rule of play until someone scores. Winners of these series will then meet the top four teams in a still-to-be-determined setting.Eastern Conference opening-round seriesMATCHUP(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 JacketsWestern Conference opening-round seriesMATCHUP(5) Edmonton Oilers vs. (12) Chicago Blackhawks Zion Williamson Jersey (6) Nashville Predators vs. (11) Arizona Coyotes(7) Vancouver Canucks vs. (10) Minnesota Wild(8) Calgary Flames vs. (9) Winnipeg Jets2020 Stanley Cup playoffsOnce the teams are whittled down to 16, it will be the Stanley Cup playoffs. Bettman told ESPN on June 15 that each round will be best of seven.Where will the games be held?"Hub cities" has been the magic phrase in sports, and the NHL is looking to play in twolocations. Bettman said last month that 10 teams were in the running to serve as hub cities.CITYCOUNTRYTEAMChicago, Ill.United StatesBlackhawksColumbus, OhioUnited StatesBlue JacketsDallas, TexasUnited StatesStarsEdmonton, JJ Redick Jersey Alta.CanadaOilersLas Vegas, Nev.United StatesGolden KnightsLos Angeles, Calif.United StatesKings*Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.United StatesWildPittsburgh, Pa.United StatesPenguinsToronto, Ont.CanadaMaple LeafsVancouver, B.C.CanadaCanucks* The Kings' season has officially ended."The reason there are so many cities still in contention is we didn't want to be in a situation with things in the world moving so quickly, changing from day to day, we didn't want to get locked in," Bettman noting a decision was, at minimum, three weeks away."We don't want to go to a place where there's a lot of COVID-19. We don't want to go to a place where we can't get the testing we need, there's going to be extensive testing . . . and there are governmental i sues," he said."For example, currently, we don't think we can do this in theCanadian markets because there's a 14-day quarantine