In a statement released on Thursday, the league says, "All necessary preparations for Phase 2, including those that require Player participation (education, diagnostic testing, scheduling for medicals, etc.), can begin immediately."
When it comes to the Round-Robin tournament with the top-four teams in each conference, those teams will play one game against each other in order to determine seeding for the playoffs following the conclusion of the qualifying round. If there happens to be a tie for the first, second or third seed following the Round-Robin tournament, the tie-breaker will be determined by regular season points percentage. Meanwhile, the seeding order dictated by the outcome of the tournament will remain the same throughout the playoffs.
As for the format of the playoffs, the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs will be determined by seeding, rather than bracketing. This means that in each round of the playoffs, the highest remaining seed in each conference will face the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed in each conference will face the second-lowest remaining seed, and so on.
Finally, the league says that the teams with the higher seeds in the qualifying round (Games 1, 2 and 5), as well as the playoffs (Games 1, 2, 5 and 7), will be deemed the team with "home ice advantage". The only exception is the Stanley Cup Final, where the team with the higher regular season points percentage will be designated as the home team in Games 1, 2, 5 and 7.
Here is how the matchups will look like for both conferences in the Return To Play format::
5 - Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 12 - Montreal Canadiens
6 - Carolina Hurricanes vs. 11 - New York Rangers
7 - New York Islanders vs. 10 - Florida Panthers
8 - Toronto Maple Leafs vs. 9 - Columbus Blue Jackets
5 - Edmonton Oilers vs. 12 - Chicago Blackhawks
6 - Nashville Predators vs. 11 - Arizona Coyotes
7 - Vancouver Canucks vs. 10 - Minnesota Wild
8 - Calgary Flames vs. 9 - Winnipeg Jets