Report: NHL season to resume July 30; league hopes to decide hub cities soon
The NHL reportedly has a timeline in place for its return-to-play plan, but it still needs to choose two hub cities in order for the postseason to begin.
According to the New York Post's Larry Brooks, the Stanley Cup playoffs are set to begin on July 30 with teams reporting to their assigned hub city by July 24.
The decision on two hub cities will reportedly be made by the end of this week, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, and the league has cut its list to just six different cities.
Ten cities were originally being considered to host teams, and the list included Chicago, Columbus, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Saint Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vancouver.
Las Vegas, home of the Golden Knights, has been rumored to be a front-runner to host half of the teams returning to action, but there's also a strong interest in having a Canadian hub city as well. Toronto has been rumored as a potential Canadian location, though the league could keep all teams in the Pacific time zone, LeBrun added, and Edmonton or Vancouver could fit that criteria.
The NHL currently is in Phase 2 of its return-to-play plan, and players have resumed skating in small groups. Training camps are expected to kick off on July 10 in teams' home facilities in preparation for the season resumption. If all goes well, we could have hockey by the end of next month.
More must-reads: