Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The most unique Stanley Cup playoffs in NHL history, thanks to the coronavirus, begin this weekend in the hub cities of Edmonton (hosting the Western Conference) and Toronto (Eastern Conference). They were chosen over any American cities because Canada has the virus under much better control than the United States does.

There are 31 NHL teams and 24 of them “advanced” to the playoffs; clubs had played around 70 games each before COVID-19 shut things down in March. The clubs with the top four points percentages in each conference will play a round robin against one another to determine the top four seeds in the East and West. The other eight clubs in each conference face off by seed – i.e. 5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11 – in a best-of-five qualifying round.

The qualifying round series winners move on and the losers go home, but the losers also get a shot at the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. Whichever of the eight losers earns that pick will be determined August 10 in Phase 2 of the draft lottery — a “placeholder” playoff team won Phase 1. Each of the eliminated teams will have a 12.5 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick.