The NHL and NHLPA officially announced the ratification of the Return to Play plan and a four-year extension to the CBA on Friday night. There is a lot to dig into in the Return to Play plan, but the most important thing is the schedule for the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
If everything goes smoothly through training camps and exhibition games, the NHL will resume with the Stanley Cup Qualifiers on Saturday, August 1st, just 22 days after ratifying the plan. The opening day will see five games between teams in the best-of-five series, while the round-robin games will start on Sunday, August 2nd.