NEW YORK (June 4, 2020) - The National Hockey League announced today more details of its playoff format for the 2019-20 Return To Play Plan:
Series Lengths
The Qualifying Round will be composed of best-of-five series. All other rounds (First Round, Second Round, Conference Finals, Stanley Cup Final) will be best-of-seven series.
"Seeding" Format
In each succeeding round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the highest remaining seed in each conference will face the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed in each conference will face the second-lowest remaining seed, etc.
Round Robin Tiebreaker
Ties in the Round Robin - featuring the top four teams from each conference - will be broken by regular season points percentage. The seeding order for these teams then will remain the same throughout the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"Home" Ice
Today's announcement follows approval by the League's Board of Governors and the National Hockey League Players' Association. The agreement is subject to the NHL and the NHLPA reaching an overall agreement on resuming play.
Click here for more details about the Return To Play Plan, announced May 26.
