The NHL on Thursday announced more details about its return-to-play format plan. The new details have been approved by both the Board of Governors and the National Hockey League Players' Association.
The format is still contingent on the NHL and NHLPA reaching an overall agreement to restart the season.
SERIES LENGTHS
• The play-in qualifying round will be a best-of-five series.
• All other rounds will be best-of-seven.
SEEDING
• There will be no bracketing. After the play-in round, the highest seed in each conference will face the lowest seed, the No. 2 seed will face the No. 7 seed, and so forth.
ROUND ROBIN
• The seeding for the top four teams in each conference will be dependent on the three round robin games they play in the first phase.
• If there are ties after the round robin tournament, the tiebreaker is regular season points percentage.
HOME ICE
• The games are still expected to be played in hub cities, but the home team still has to be designated to determine which team gets the last line change in stoppages.
• In the play-in round, the higher-seeded team will be designated as the home team in Games 1, 2 and 5. The lower-seeded team will be designated as the home team in Games 3 and 4.
• In the first three rounds of the playoffs, the higher-seeded team will be designated as the home team in Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 as usual. The lower-seeded team will be designated as the home team in Games 3, 4 and 6.
• In the Stanley Cup Final, the team with the higher regular season points percentage will be the home team in Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. The team with the lower regular season points percentage will be designated as the home team in Games 3, 4 and 6.
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