Report: NHLPA expected to approve NHL's return-to-play plan

Find out the latest on COVID-19's impact on the sports world and when sports are returning by subscribing to Breaking News push notifications in the Sports and COVID-19 section.

A vote by the NHLPA's executive committee is expected to result in the union's approval of the league's return-to-play proposal, reports TSN's Bob McKenzie.

A conference call Thursday about the proposal "got a little heated at times," and players still hold a wide range of individual views on the 24-team playoff plan, adds McKenzie.

The NHLPA executive board - comprising one player representative from each of the league's 31 teams - reportedly opened voting Thursday evening to determine whether to accept the NHL's return-to-play parameters. The board requires 18 votes to pass, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

Once the players have formalized their stance, "the league has its own 'process' to go through," adds LeBrun, but it's expected that it would be made official within "a couple of days."

McKenzie reported Friday that an eventual announcement of the format isn't likely to include a timetable or a list of critical dates.

The NHL has reportedly been discussing a 24-team format in which the top four clubs in each conference would receive byes but would face off against one another in a round-robin tournament to determine playoff seeding. The next-best eight teams in each conference would take part in bracketed best-of-five series to determine their subsequent postseason matchups.