Breakdown of NHL formal announcement on Return to Play and the Draft Lottery

Gary Bettman officially announced the 24 Team Return to Play format. The biggest takeaways are listed below but the news on the Draft Lottery was very complex and as I reported earlier today, the Rangers if they were to lose against Carolina will automatically be entered into the draft lottery which will have the same odds as if it were being conducted under normal circumstances.

Return to Play Announcement

  • 24 Clubs will resume play, top 12 from each conference by points percentage.
  • Remaining 7 teams are in the Draft Lottery.
  • 2 hub cities to be announced at later date.
  • Each team will be allowed 50 personnel.
  • Phase 2 will start soon in Early June
  • Phase 3 will be formal training camps, no earlier than July 1st.
  • Phase 4 will have all 24 teams reporting to respective hubs to begin round robin and then Stanley Cup playoffs.
  • No dates yet for Phase 4
  • Hub Finalists include: Chi, CBJ, Dal, Edm, LV, LA, Mn, Pit, Tor, Van
  • Top 4 teams in each conference will play round robin for seeding (regular season rules)
  • Qualifying round will be playoff rules
  • Seeding or Bracket not yet decided
  • First two rounds could be either best of 5 or 7
  • As far as stats, regular season is done.

On the Draft

The Draft Lottery is very complex and broken down beautifully by Bob McKenzie.

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Anthony Scultore is the founder of Forever Blueshirts and has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL... More about Anthony Scultore

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