NHL Outlines Return to Play Plan

Commissioner Gary Bettman announces the league's return to play plan

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — The NHL regular season is officially over as commissioner Gary Bettman announced the league’s return to play plan. 24 teams will return including the top 12 based off points from when season was paused on march 12th. In that case, the Minnesota Wild make it into the playoffs as the 10 seed.

Each conference will be assigned to a hub city. The Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul was one of the venues listed as one of seven in consideration.

The top four seeds play a round robin to determine seeding. The Wild, who play in the qualifying round, face the Vancouver Canucks in a best-of-five series to move on to the next round.

The league is currently in phase one. In order for teams to return to facilities, phase two needs to happen. That’s expected in early June with phase three, training camp, coming in July and teams reporting to hub cities to follow.

For more on the return to play plan,  click here.