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NHL Playoff Picture 2020: Latest Conference Standings, Seeds and Predictions

After working for months on a return-to-play plan, the NHL will finally resume the 2019-20 season on Saturday after pausing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Or, more accurately, play will begin anew in the 2019-20 postseason, which features an expanded 24-team tournament.

But the rules of the game are not the same for the 12 teams in each conference. Between Aug. 2-9, the top four teams in both the Eastern and Western Conferences will play three days' worth of round-robin games to determine playoff seeding.

That means, for instance, even though the Boston Bruins sat atop the East (and the league as a whole) with 100 points when play paused on March 12, they could end up as the No.