Slowly and tentatively, the resumption of the National Hockey League season is coming into view.
Slowly and tentatively, the resumption of the National Hockey League season is coming into view.
With training facilities having opened on Monday for voluntary, small group workouts, the NHL and NHLPA announced Thursday that they have to agreed to open training camps on Friday, July 10, “provided that medical and safety conditions allow and the parties have reached an overall agreement on resuming play,” according to the joint statement from the league and union.
In keeping with the league’s approach of remaining flexible as it tries to navigate its way to a return through the coronavirus pandemic, no date has been set for the start of Phase 4, which is the resumption of actual games. The league and PA have devised a plan for a 24-team tournament, with the top four seeds from each conference playing in separate round robin tournaments to determine seeding while there will be eight best-of-five play-in series.
If Phases 2 (voluntary workouts) and 3 (training camps) go off without major hitches, then actual games could begin by early August.
There will be two hub cities, one for each conference, during this period.
