After they held an eight-point advantage atop the Eastern Conference standings at the time of the NHL's pause, the Boston Bruins may be a tad irked that the NHL's top seeds will play in a round-robin format in an eventual return to play.

"With what the team was able to accomplish in the first 70 games, to have three (round-robin) games dictate our playoff position is disappointing," Bruins president Cam Neely said Wednesday, per NBC Boston's Joe Haggerty.

The NHL announced its plans for a 24-team playoff on Tuesday. The format allows byes for the top four teams in each conference while seeds 5-12 battle in a best-of-five play-in tournament.

However, in order to avoid the league's best teams entering the playoffs cold, they'll play a small round-robin tournament first. Each team with a bye will play its conference's other top three teams once to determine seeding when the real playoffs begin. That means the Bruins could potentially drop from the No. 1 spot to No. 4 with a poor showing after the lengthy layoff.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, and Philadelphia Flyers are the teams Boston will need to overcome in order to stay in the top spot.

The Bruins finished the regular season with a 44-14-12 record, good for a league-leading 100 points.

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Columbus Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno had some strong words Wednesday about how the NHL's return-to-play plan needs to consider players' families.

"If somebody tells me I can't see my family, there's going to be a fight at some point," Foligno told Sportsnet's Luke Fox while discussing players being quarantined in hub cities.

Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed Tuesday that the NHL plans to stage a 24-team playoff split between two hub cities. However, there are still plenty of logistics to sort out, such as timelines, specific locations, COVID-19 testing, and the self-isolation limitations for players, staff, and their families.

While Foligno shared his concern, he also stated he's ready to play under the proper parameters.

"There's a bigger thing going on in the world than hockey," Foligno said. "But if we have a chance to be able to play the game, then we owe it to our fans, to ourselves."

The Blue Jackets qualified for the play-in tournament as the Eastern Conference's ninth seed and are slated for a best-of-five clash with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Foligno, 32, posted 31 points in 67 games this past season. He's captained the club since 2015-16.

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Steve Yzerman says Jeff Blashill will remain head coach of the Detroit Red Wings.

"I have no plans of making a coaching change at this time," the Red Wings general manager told reporters Wednesday, according to WXYZ's Brad Galli.

He added, "I think Jeff has done a good job. The Red Wings are in a rebuild."

Yzerman wouldn't say whether the club picked up Blashill's option for next season, but made it clear he wants the bench boss to stick around for now.

"Jeff's gonna be the head coach of the team and we're gonna do everything we can to make sure he's the head coach of the team," the GM said.

Yzerman emphasized that the Red Wings' primary problem is roster construction as opposed to who's behind the bench.

"Quite frankly, we need to improve the team for anybody to truly critique or assess the coaching staff," the GM said, according to The Athletic's Max Bultman. "We need to improve the team."

This past season was Blashill's fifth with Detroit. The Red Wings made a first-round playoff exit during his first season in 2016, but they've been among the NHL's worst clubs since then, missing the postseason in all four subsequent years while ranking near the basement of the league standings.

The team was by far the NHL's worst in 2019-20, going 17-49-5 with a minus-122 goal differential - 70 goals worse than the 30th-ranked Ottawa Senators.

Detroit named Yzerman GM in April 2019. He returned to the franchise with which he starred as a player and replaced Ken Holland, who left the Red Wings and ultimately assumed the same role with the Edmonton Oilers.

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NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly says the league remains keen on having a Canadian city serve as a hub if and when the return-to-play plan is initiated, but he admits that might not be possible.

"We would certainly like to have a (hub) city in Canada," Daly told TSN's James Duthie on Tuesday night. "As with everything we try to do and with our events, we try to move them around (and) try to make sure our Canadian clubs are well-represented, and this would be another example of that."

Daly acknowledged that the Canadian government's 14-day self-isolation order for all individuals entering the country is a hurdle the NHL is still trying to navigate.

The deputy commissioner stressed that the league has been in talks with Canadian officials, and while the NHL wants to "be consistent" with the rule, a failure to find a solution would all but rule out the possibility of hosting games north of the border.

"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.

While unveiling the NHL's return-to-play plan Tuesday afternoon, commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed the 24-team playoff will take place in two hub cities - one per conference - and that Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver are among the 10 cities being considered.

"Our primary goal is to find the two best cities, and by 'best,' the first and foremost factor we're looking at is the health situation," Daly said Tuesday night. "And as the COVID situation continues to evolve, are we going to a healthy city that would be consistent with what we want to present to our players and our staff members?"

British Columbia has handled the COVID-19 pandemic relatively well, as its premier, John Horgan, noted after speaking with Bettman earlier in May. However, Horgan said at the time that the 14-day self-isolation rule would be among several issues that would have to be addressed, and the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, stated Tuesday that no exceptions would be made.

"I would love to have hockey but … we're not bending the rules in any way that would put what we have achieved here in B.C. at risk," Dr. Henry said, according to CBC News.

In Alberta, the curve has seemingly begun to flatten, with the province reporting only 22 new cases Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the situation is worse in Ontario, with the province recording its first day of fewer than 400 new cases in nearly a week Sunday, according to The Toronto Star. A widely criticized mass gathering took place at the city's Trinity Bellwoods Park on Saturday.

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With the NHL's regular season officially over, Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby joins legends Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the only players in league history to average more than one point per game over their first 15 campaigns, according to The Athletic's Josh Yohe.

Here are Crosby's points-per-game totals since he broke into the league 15 seasons ago:

Gretzky holds the record having gone 19 straight seasons averaging a point per game, only falling short in the year before retirement. Lemieux's streak ended at 15.

Teammate Evgeni Malkin has averaged over a point per game in 13 of his 14 seasons but missed the mark 2010-11.

Connor McDavid holds the only other active streak, as he's reached the mark in each of his first five seasons.

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The NHL's 24-team return-to-play format marks the end of the 2019-20 regular season "for the purposes of nomenclature, record keeping, and NHL awards," commissioner Gary Bettman said in Tuesday's announcement. That means it's time to hand out awards and finalize league stat leaders.

There's a small caveat, though. NHLPA president Donald Fehr said there's been no collectively bargained decision on how stats from the qualifying round will be counted, according to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. Therefore, these awards and league leaders could be subject to change at some point. For now, we're proceeding anyway.

Presidents' Trophy

Awarded to the team with the most points.

Winner: Boston Bruins

Whether by points or points percentage - a calculation dividing accrued points by maximum possible points based on games played - the Bruins were the NHL's best team during the 2019-20 regular season.

Art Ross Trophy

Awarded to the player with the most points.

Winner: Leon Draisaitl

Barring an injury, this was Draisaitl's trophy to lose even without a league shutdown.

Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy

Awarded to the player with the most goals.

Winner: Alex Ovechkin/David Pastrnak

This was arguably the most enticing award race in the league, so it's a shame we never got to see the end of it; each of these five players seemed to have a fighting chance. If it stands, it will be Ovechkin's eighth time winning the award and Pastrnak's first.

Assists leader

Winner: Leon Draisaitl

There's no actual award for the NHL's regular-season assist leader, which seems like a missed opportunity. It could be named after Wayne Gretzky, the NHL's all-time points leader by assists alone. Or perhaps after someone who specialized in dishing the puck (to a lesser extent) but was never an elite scorer, like Adam Oates or Joe Thornton.

Defenseman points leader

Winner: John Carlson

Carlson was on pace for 89 points over 82 games, a total no defenseman has reached since Ray Bourque and Sergei Zubov in 1993-94, according to Hockey Reference.

Average time-on-ice leader

Winner: Thomas Chabot

Chabot was a horse. He logged 37:50 of action during an overtime loss to the Lightning in December.

William M. Jennings Trophy

Awarded to the goaltender(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals against.

Winner: Tuukka Rask/Jaroslav Halak

Rask (41 starts) and Halak (31 starts) were both sensational this season, combining for a .925 save percentage and a 2.24 goals-against average. Boston's blue line and the team's overall defensive play deserve some credit, too.

Save percentage leader

Minimum of 23 games played, per NHL.com.

Winner: Anton Khudobin

Though he split time in the crease with Ben Bishop this season, Khudobin has quietly become one of the league's most effective goaltenders. A pending UFA, he could be in line for a handsome payday this offseason.

Goalie wins leader

Winner: Andrei Vasilevskiy

Vasilevskiy may be the winner here, but Hellebuyck's brilliance can't be overstated. He won 31 games while posting a .922 save percentage after Winnipeg lost four of its blue-line regulars from 2018-19.

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The NHL Draft Lottery will be held June 26, and it will feature a few new wrinkles due to the league's 24-team playoff, commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday.

There are three lottery spots up for grabs. The teams included in the lottery will be the seven clubs that failed to qualify for the expanded playoff, and eight "placeholders" to represent the squads that don't advance out of the qualifying round.

Odds for the picks will be the same as in years past. Here's how the teams stack up:

The Senators' second pick was acquired from the San Jose Sharks in the Erik Karlsson trade. The Devils get the higher odds over the Sabres due to Buffalo recording more regulation and overtime wins.

If the top three spots are awarded to any combination of the first seven teams, those clubs nab the corresponding pick and the rest of the list carries on as usual. Teams eliminated from the qualifying round would then take up spots eight to 15 based on inverse order of the regular-season points percentage.

However, if one or more of the placeholders moves up and wins a top-three selection, the rights to those picks will be determined in the second phase of the draft lottery. If necessary, that will be held between the qualifying and first rounds of the playoffs.

The draws during a potential second phase will only include the eight teams that failed to advance out of the play-in best-of-five series.

The date of the draft is still undetermined, but it will occur after the playoffs.

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