It’s official, the NHL is coming back for the Stanley Cup Playoffs

The NHL is officially coming back with the return to play protocols being approved by both the NHL and NHLPA.

It’s been nearly four months since the last NHL game took place on March 11, but the wait is over. Hockey is coming back.

As first reported by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the NHL and NHLPA have ratified the previously tentatively agreed upon return to play protocols and a Collective Bargaining Agreement extension meaning labor peace and no lockout threat all the way through 2026.

The announcement was made official shortly after by both the NHL and the NHLPA.

Training camps are set to open in just a few days on July 13 for all of the 24 remaining teams. July 13 at 5pm EST is also the final day for players to opt out of the return to play with no penalty, and no explanation needed.

Phase 3 will conclude when players travel to their respective hub city bubbles of either Toronto for Eastern Conference teams or Edmonton for Western Conference teams on July 26. There will also be some exhibition games from July 28-30 before the season officially begins again.

The season restart is set to begin on Aug 1 with the qualifying round for the 24-team playoff format, with the entire tournament scheduled to be completed in about 62 days. The Stanley Cup Final will take place in Edmonton, with the Stanley Cup being awarded no later than the first week of October.

I hoped you missed hockey, because there’s going to be plenty of it once August rolls around. Every single day in the qualifying round there will be at least five games played in a ten hour span, basically starting at noon and the final game not dropping the puck until maybe 10pm EST.

Only time will tell if the NHL can actually pull this off, but they’ve done an unprecedented job in an impossible situation to try and make this work. Now the only obstacle in the way of the Stanley Cup being handed out is obviously the Coronavirus pandemic, but if the NHL is hopeful that if they can make it to Phase 4 and get teams inside the bubble that the season will be able to completed. From now until the puck is officially dropped will be critical in seeing whether or not this season can actually be completed.