Brian Peck

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NHL to ditch rest of season, go into 24-team playoff

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday (May 26th) that they won’t play the 189 games that were left in the regular season and will instead go straight into the playoffs with 24 teams instead of 16 if and when the league returns to play from its coronavirus suspension.

The playoff games would be held in two cities, which have yet to be determined, with groups of 12 teams representing each of the two conferences. Games will be played without fans. Play could resume in late July or early August, with the Stanley Cup Final in September or possibly later.

The 10 cities in the running to be the two hub cities are: Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Las Vegas; Pittsburgh; Los Angeles; and Minneapolis/St. Paul in the U.S., and Edmonton; Toronto; and Vancouver in Canada.

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