The NHL is designating two Canadian cities as its “hub cities” for the 2020 playoffs.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie said “barring any last-minute complications,” Edmonton and Toronto will host the playoffs, which are set to start as early as late July.
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Barring any last-minute complications, and we have seen some of those (Vancouver and Las Vegas), the two NHL Hub cities will be Edmonton and Toronto. 🇨🇦
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) July 1, 2020
The regular season was first paused in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, then it was officially canceled in late May when the league simultaneously announced a 24-team playoff plan.
Here’s how it will go:
- Round Robin: The top 4 teams play for First Round seeding (regular-season overtime rules in effect)
- Qualifying Round: The remaining 8 teams play best-of-5 series to advance to the First Round (playoff overtime rules in effect)
- First Round and Second Round: Format (seeding vs. bracket) and series lengths to be determined
- Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final: Best-of-7 series
The NHL said it was looking at 10 different cities as possible “hub cities” for games. The list included Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vancouver.
The NHL said each conference will be assigned a hub city with secure hotels, arena, practice facilities and in-market transportation. Teams will be limited to 50 personnel in the hub city with only a small number of support staff permitted to enter the event areas.
More: Hockey news
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