Players battle for the puck during the NHL game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Columbus Blue Jackets in Vancouver, Canada, March 8, 2020. /VCG
The National Hockey League (NHL) announced Tuesday it will abandon the rest of the regular season and proceed directly to a 24-team playoff staged in two hub cities.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the revised schedule would "produce a worthy Stanley Cup champion" after a season that has been put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic.
However, Bettman offered no fixed date on when play would resume, while the two cities due to host the playoffs were also yet to be decided. Formal training camps won't open until July 1 at the earliest, he added.
The NHL season has been on pause since March 12 due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and all players currently remain under league-mandated quarantine.
Bettman said ten cities are in the running for the two hub centers, including seven from the U.S.: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh. The three Canadian cities are Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton.
Bettman said the league had drawn up a long-list of candidate cities in order to retain scheduling flexibility.
"We didn't want to get locked in. We don't want to go to a place where there is a lot of COVID-19 or we don't want to go to a place where we can't get the testing we need," he said.
"There is going to be extensive testing. It must be available on wide-scale basis without obstructing local needs."
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman (L) presents Ryan O'Reilly #90 of the St. Louis Blues with the Conn Smythe Trophy after defeating the Boston Bruins 4-1 to win Game Seven of the NHL Stanley Cup Final in Boston, U.S., June 12, 2019. /VCG
Although three Canadian cities are in the running, Bettman later told reporters that unless Canada lifts mandatory 14-day quarantine rules, the NHL will not be heading north of the U.S. border.
"We don't need to make a decision today. We'll probably need to make one in three to four weeks, and at that point we would be able to better evaluate how COVID‑19 is in a particular place," Bettman said.
He reiterated earlier reports that the playoff format would begin with best-of-five series, but the Stanley Cup final would be the traditional best-of-seven.
"We anticipate playing into the late summer and early fall," he said.
Under the proposed schedule, the top four seeds in each conference would play a round robin tournament for first-round seedings.
The top four seeds in the Eastern Conference hub city would be the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers.
The top four Western Conference teams would be the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars.
Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Vegas Golden Knights takes a break during the NHL game against Chicago Blackhawks in Las Vegas, U.S., December 10, 2019. The Golden Knights defeated the Blackhawks 5-1. /VCG
The other 16 teams in both conferences would play in a best-of-five first round.
Games will be played behind closed doors without fans in the buildings.
While the players and the NHL have agreed on a format, the NHL Players' Association has not formally approved any actual return to finish the season.
Bettman said the league and clubs will combine to spend millions of dollars conducting up to 30,000 tests for the players, coaches, officials and staff.
"You just do the math," he said. "Our medical advisors tell us that by the time we are doing this over the summer. It will be a relatively insignificant number relative to the number of tests that will be available."