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Alberta premier Jason Kenney is asking Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to remove coronavirus-related travel restrictions so that Edmonton can become a hub city when the NHL resumes play, according to Reuters.

The NHL unveiled its 24-team return-to-play format Tuesday, which includes the use of two hub cities - one for each conference. There are 10 cities currently under consideration, including Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver.

However, the federal government has a 14-day isolation order for all individuals entering Canada. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Wednesday that the league would like to have a Canadian hub city, but this rule may prevent it.

"If we're not able to resolve that issue or solve that issue, I think it effectively eliminates our ability to come to a Canadian city as one of our hub cities," Daly said.

Edmonton has been more persistent on hosting NHL games than the other two Canadian cities.

"Alberta began its phased relaunch of our economy on May 14, and there have been no measurable increases in the case numbers for coronavirus in the province," Kenney wrote in a letter to Trudeau on Tuesday. "New COVID-19 cases in Edmonton are averaging one per day, with recovered cases far outweighing any new infections."

Kenney said earlier in May that Edmonton is the "safest place" in North America to host NHL games due to the low number of COVID-19 cases.

Part of Kenney's push is the fact that Edmonton boasts a luxurious 364-room hotel attached to its state-of-the-art arena, Rogers Place, that could form a "quarantine zone." He said local public health officials are on board with the plan.

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Find out the latest on COVID-19's impact on the sports world and when sports are returning by subscribing to Breaking News push notifications in the Sports and COVID-19 section.

Alberta premier Jason Kenney is asking Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to remove coronavirus-related travel restrictions so that Edmonton can become a hub city when the NHL resumes play, according to Reuters.

The NHL unveiled its 24-team return-to-play format Tuesday, which includes the use of two hub cities - one for each conference. There are 10 cities currently under consideration, including Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver.

However, the federal government has a 14-day isolation order for all individuals entering Canada. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Wednesday that the league would like to have a Canadian hub city, but this rule may prevent it.

"If we're not able to resolve that issue or solve that issue, I think it effectively eliminates our ability to come to a Canadian city as one of our hub cities," Daly said.

Edmonton has been more persistent on hosting NHL games than the other two Canadian cities.

"Alberta began its phased relaunch of our economy on May 14, and there have been no measurable increases in the case numbers for coronavirus in the province," Kenney wrote in a letter to Trudeau on Tuesday. "New COVID-19 cases in Edmonton are averaging one per day, with recovered cases far outweighing any new infections."

Kenney said earlier in May that Edmonton is the "safest place" in North America to host NHL games due to the low number of COVID-19 cases.

Part of Kenney's push is the fact that Edmonton boasts a luxurious 364-room hotel attached to its state-of-the-art arena, Rogers Place, that could form a "quarantine zone." He said local public health officials are on board with the plan.

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Buffalo Sabres captain Jack Eichel didn't mince words when speaking about missing the playoffs for the fifth straight season since entering the league in 2015.

"Listen, I'm fed up with the losing and I'm frustrated. It's not an easy pill to swallow right now," Eichel said on a conference call Thursday, according to Postmedia's Michael Traikos. "It's been a tough past couple of months and a tough past five years."

After being selected second overall in the 2015 draft, Eichel quickly transitioned into an MVP-caliber player with the Sabres. In the 2019-20 season, he recorded 36 goals and 42 assists in 68 games.

Despite his individual success, the Sabres have failed to break free from the bottom of the league's standings. Since his rookie season, the team has finished in sixth place in the Atlantic Division twice, seventh once, and eighth twice.

The 23-year-old pointed to the newly developed 24-team playoff format as even more reason for his frustration. The Sabres narrowly missed the cut, sitting at 25th place.

"It adds to the frustration that you can't get to a 24-team playoff," Eichel said. "Our goal at the beginning of the season wasn't to make the 24-team playoff. It was to make a 16-team playoff."

He added: "In a situation like this, a lot of the teams that are going to continue to play. They probably thought they were going to be out of it. They’re going to gain valuable experience. Now we're not one of them. It adds to the frustration. It adds to it a lot."

Eichel has led his team in points over the past four seasons. He's recorded 137 goals and 200 assists in 354 career games.

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Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara understands that the 24-team playoff may not be 100% fair, but also recognizes there are bigger things to worry about than the postseason format.

"You can’t really blame anyone or feel that it’s unfair. For us, we have to be grateful for the opportunity we're getting," Chara said, per Sportsnet. "When you kind of look at the real-life perspective, what other people's families, businesses go through … Not everybody is getting the same chance, lots of people lost a lot of financial support, businesses went down and they will never get the same opportunities, so we have to be grateful for the opportunity."

The Bruins were in the driver's seat to win the Atlantic Division prior to the season's pause. At the time of the stoppage, they sat eight points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning with 12 games left on the schedule.

Under the new playoff format, the Bruins will need to partake in a three-game round robin to determine their seeding. Bruins president Cam Neely said Wednesday that he felt the format was "disappointing" for his team.

Chara added that while the situation to return to play isn't guaranteed, players will need to accept certain risks to compete for the Stanley Cup.

"There is going to be risk involved," Chara said, according to NBC Sports' Joe Haggerty. "We just have to manage what kind of risk we are willing to accept.”

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Rod Brind'Amour says the Carolina Hurricanes believe the 24-team playoff format the league announced Tuesday dismisses the success they achieved throughout the majority of the season.

"I think the bigger issue felt like, and especially our guys, was like 'what was the 68 games we played for?'" the head coach said Wednesday on the "ESPN on Ice" podcast.

"What did we grind for? The bulk of the season was completed, and they just threw that out, and I think that's how (the Hurricanes) felt," he added. "I think that's justifiable in a way."

The Hurricanes, who occupied the first Eastern Conference wild-card berth with 81 points through 68 games when the season was suspended March 12, were one of two teams - along with the Tampa Bay Lightning - to vote against the expanded playoff format.

"For where we were and where our team thought we could get to, it hurts our odds," said forward Jordan Martinook.

Under the arrangement, Carolina will meet the New York Rangers - who earned 79 points in 70 games and sat outside the traditional playoff field - in a best-of-five play-in series.

Brind'Amour thinks instead of a play-in, the league could have played out the remaining games normally to decide the postseason seeding for a typical 16-team format.

"Why not carry the points over that you have?" he said. "If we're playing in, I think the thought was if you're playing in, five, six, seven games, however, we could easily have all had the same amount of games, figured that out and that would have been your play-in, and take your points with you and see how you end up."

On the plus side for the Hurricanes, Brind'Amour says defensemen Dougie Hamilton and Sami Vatanen, who were injured when play was paused, will be back in the lineup. Blue-liner Brett Pesce is "more of a longshot" to return.

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Montreal Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin will be back in the lineup for the club's play-in series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, general manager Marc Bergevin announced Wednesday.

Drouin was limited to only 27 games in 2019-20 after battling a series of injuries. The 25-year-old most recently played Feb. 25 and missed the Canadiens' final six contests with an ankle injury before the league suspended the season on March 12.

The 6-foot winger tallied seven goals and 15 points while averaging 15:42 of ice time this season.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the 24-team, two-city playoff format Tuesday.

The Canadiens, who were all but eliminated from postseason contention under the traditional format, own the 12th and final Eastern Conference playoff spot under the restructured conference-based seeding. Montreal will play the fifth-seeded Penguins in a best-of-five qualifying series with the winner advancing to the 16-team bracket.

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Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas is excited for his club's opportunity to see its season through with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman officially announcing the league's 24-team playoff format Tuesday.

"I think we're certainly going to embrace it as a unique experience, but also as a tremendous opportunity for our team and for our group," Dubas said Wednesday in an interview with TSN.

Under the format, the Leafs are slated to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets in a best-of-five play-in series. After a wildly inconsistent 2019-20 campaign that comes on the heels of three straight first-round playoff exits, Dubas knows how important it is for his club to take the next step.

"I think we have a lot to prove. ... If we really want to take advantage of the talent and the potential that we have, it's a great opportunity now for us to individually during Phase 2 go about our own business and get into the best condition and fitness level we possibly can get into, and then for (head coach) Sheldon (Keefe) and our management group to have the team as ready as possible once we get into Phase 3," Dubas said.

Maple Leafs captain John Tavares, who was one of five player representatives on the NHL/NHLPA Return to Play Committee, says he's satisfied with the plan after some people expressed their concern about the integrity of awarding the Stanley Cup in a non-standard postseason after an abbreviated regular season.

"Any team that's got to win possibly five rounds and probably - obviously not for sure, but probably four rounds of best of seven ... I think considering what we're all going through and what it's going to take to get this done and be able to play ... it's going to be a very, very worthy and deserving Stanley Cup champion," Tavares said.

The Leafs will likely welcome forward Ilya Mikheyev - who's been out with a wrist injury since December - back into the lineup, along with defensemen Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin. Dubas also said Wednesday that prospect Nick Robertson will be included on the club's expanded 28-man roster.

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