Our collective nightmare of the 2019-20 San Jose Sharks season has officially come to an end, as league commissioner Gary Bettman announced this afternoon that the NHL will be entering “Phase 2” of the league’s Return To Play Plan, after the NHLPA and the league’s board of governors voted to approve the 24-team playoff structure this weekend. Only two teams — the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes, who would both make playoffs under this structure — voted against the proposal.
Among the decisions to be made before entering Phase 2 was the determination on the regular season’s standings, where the Sharks were positioned at the bottom of the Western Conference prior to the season pause.