Bettman confirms Penguins vs. Canadiens, full format

Commissioner Gary Bettman made the obvious, official Monday, confirming that the NHL plans to resume play this summer with a 24-team playoff field.

Under the format agreed to be the league and the NHL Players' Association, the Penguins will face Montreal in one of eight preliminary-round series that will be used to determine half of the 16 teams that will compete for the Stanley Cup.

Each of those play-in series will be a best-of-five and will be contested under playoff overtime rules.

Games in that preliminary round, as well as those in the first two rounds of the "regular" playoffs, will be contested in two "hub" cities.

Pittsburgh is one of 10 Bettman said are under consideration to play host to games, and one of only three -- Columbus and Toronto are the others -- that is home to an Eastern Conference club. Western Conference cities that are being considered are Las Vegas, Chicago, Dallas, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Vancouver.

"There (is) no shortage of candidates that can help us do this," Bettman said.

The two cities that are selected to play host to games will be selected "at a later date," Bettman said. He did not specify whether the Eastern teams would be assigned to the Eastern city that is chosen.

It has not been determined whether the conference finals and Stanley Cup final will be contested in a hub city, although Bettman said that "we expect those to be played in one of the two hub cities."

The top four clubs in each conference, as determined by winning percentage when the 2019-20 season was suspended March 12 -- Boston, Tampa Bay Washington and Philadelphia in the East, St. Louis, Colorado, Vegas and Dallas in the West -- will receive byes for the play-in round, but will compete in intra-conference round-robin events to determine seeding in Round 1 of the regular playoffs.

Twelve teams from each conference will be involved when play resumes, and were chosen on the basis of percentage of points earned before the league suspended operations March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic; the seasons of the other seven clubs are over and, fo statistical and award purposes, the 2019-20 regular season has been deemed to be complete.

Bettman said the "health and safety" of players and others involved is "paramount" and that the league will not proceed until it has clearance from governmental and medical authorities.

He did not announce a date when games are likely to be played "because the schedule of our return to play will be determined both by developing circumstances and by the needs of our players," but that "obviously, we anticipate playing over the summer and into the early fall."

Although there is sentiment is come circles to call off the balance of the 2019-20 season and focus on the next one, Bettman said that resuming play has widespread support.

"The reason we are doing this is because our fans are telling us, in overwhelming numbers, that they want us to complete the season, if at all possible," he said. "And our players and our teams are clear that they want to play and bring the season to its rightful conclusion."

Bettman also said that:

• Teams should get clearance to conduct voluntary "small-group" skating sessions, with a maximum of six players on the ice at a time, at their practice facilities in early June.

• Regular training camps are likely to open during the "first half of July," although no target date was specified.

• Competing teams will be limited to a 50-member contingent of personnel in the hub cities.

• There will be a "comprehensive system" of testing to monitor the health of team personnel attending games,