Current reality: The NHL's plan...

Gary Bettman is holding a press conference as I type, regarding the NHL's relaunch.

The 2019-20 regular season has officially ended.  Any restart, at this point, is playoffs only.

This is really going to foul up the calendar, but they probably have no choice.

• July 1 restart to training camp 
• 24 teams in two cities (one for the Eastern Conference, one for the Western Conference), still TBD.
• Two four teams in each conference go to the playoffs directly, and play round-robin to determine the seeding 1-4 for the actual First Round.
• The Qualifying Round of the situation will involve the 5-12 teams in each conference, best of 5.
• Eastern Conference:

1. Pittsburgh-Montreal
2. Carolina-Rangers
3. Islanders-Florida
4. Toronto-Columbus 

• Western Conference: 

1. Edmonton-Chicago
2. Nashville-Phoenix
3. Vancouver-Minnesota
4. Calgary-Winnipeg

• First two rounds best of 5, conference finals and Stanley Cup Best of 7.
• Draft Lottery June 26, with the eliminated teams and placeholders for the eight teams losing in the Qualifying Round.
• Plans are still to have a full 2020-21 season after this.  HA!  I don't care if they DO try to move the next season or two back a bit...   
• Early plans appear to indicate the 2021 season would begin January 1, 2021.