The Montreal Canadiens and the rest of the NHL were made aware of new info on the Return to Play Plan and the lottery as Gary Bettman made a statement.
It’s only been two days into the week, and we have a lot of information on the NHL’s plans to return. Word was out that Phase 2 will be starting at the beginning of June, which will allow players in groups of six to voluntarily make use of player facilities. That said, fans can start preparing for the return of the Montreal Canadiens, whenever that may exactly be.
Another thing that came out of it was the date of the NHL Draft Lottery, which still has many confused. However, Gary Bettman’s presser answered some of those questions.
As we already knew, 24 teams will resume play while the top 12 in each conference will be ranked by points percentage as of March 12th. The playoffs will take place in two hub cities, one for each conference.
The teams will be able to bring 50 personnel in each hub city. The cities haven’t been decided yet, but there are 10 options currently on the table, including Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and Vancouver. The decision will be based on government regulations and medical policies.
Phase 3 of the Return to Play plan includes getting training camp going while Phase 4 details how to restart the season. Bettman mentioned that the expectation is for the season to carry out into the summer and into the fall.
Now we go on to play. The Qualifying Round (QR) will take place with eight teams in each conference playing and ranked based on points percentage. Unlike the Round Robin Round, which will make use of regular season rules, the QR will make use of playoff extended overtime rules. So when the Montreal Canadiens take on the Pittsburgh Penguins, there won’t be a shootout.
Bettman mentioned that the committee hasn’t decided on whether the first round of the playoffs will be set via points-percentage seeding or a regular bracket. That will make things interesting as that could generate a number of alternatives. Another thing that hasn’t been decided yet is whether to have the first two rounds best of five or best of seven series. Either way, we know the Conference Final and Stanley Cup Final will be a best of seven.
Draft Lottery
Bettman started out by saying this will be complicated, and he wasn’t kidding. It boils down to two possible phases.
In Phase One, the seven teams who can’t play as well as the eight teams who are eliminated in the QR will be in the draft lottery. The first three picks will be in the lottery, and this will take place on June 26th. If one of those even teams are the only ones to win one of the three top picks or if all three picks are won by those three picks, there won’t be a Phase 2.
If one of those eight teams win one of the lotteries, a Phase 2 will take place between the QR and the first round of the playoffs. Here, there will be a lottery amongst all teams who didn’t advance to the first round, and all will get the same odds for that pick (12.5%). When all the top three picks are chosen, the remaining slots will be in reverse order.
Well, this is all interesting. No other dates have been put into place, but it looks as if the NHL is ready to get things going. The Montreal Canadiens are in a very weird place, even if they are eliminated in the first round, there are still going to be hurdles to move up via the draft lottery.