The National Hockey League’s 2019-2020 season is over, and the league’s playoffs will go on in a new format amid coronavirus concerns.
Gary Bettman, the league’s commissioner, announced that a larger-than-normal number of teams would be accepted into this year’s playoffs, while the remaining teams will see their season come to a close, but it remains still unknown when the playoffs will take place.
The top 12 teams in each the Eastern and Western conferences will make the playoffs, up from the standard eight. The 12 teams in each conference will play each other in one hub city that has yet to be determined. Each conference will also have secure hotels, arena, practice facilities, and in-market transportation.
Within each conference, the top four teams will play each other in a round-robin-style tournament to determine their seeding. The remaining eight teams in each conference will play each other in the first round while the winners will advance to play the top four teams.
The seasons of the remaining seven teams that were not in the top 12 spots in each conference when play stopped on March 12 will be over, and the draft lottery (how the draft order is determined) will take place in the near future.
