Report: Vegas preparing to be one of two hub cities in NHL's Return To Play format

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According to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the city of Las Vegas is preparing to be named as one of the two hub cities for the NHL's Return To Play initiative later this summer.

An official announcement of the news is expected by Monday, June 22, but an announcement could come sooner.

Vegas was one of the 10 cities in the running to be one of the two hub cities for the resumption of the 2019-20 season when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the format of the 24-team Return To Play initiative back in late May. The other cities in the running includes Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vancouver.

One factor that makes Vegas a popular spot, as a hub city in this format, is the ability to provide teams with separate hotel accomodations, in close range to T-Mobile Arena, home of the Vegas Golden Knights.

According to Sportsnet hockey reporter Chris Johnston, determining the other hub city will come down to the Canadian government and how they choose to enforce their 14-day quarantine period for those entering the country. Talks are reportedly ongoing between the Canadian government and the NHL on a possible resolution for the matter.

Johnston also says that the league would prefer to have its second hub city in Canada, with Toronto being the likely choice to host one of the league's two conferences during the qualifying round and the seeding round-robin tournament.

Other cities like Pittsburgh and Columbus have also been talked about as possible candidates to be the other hub city.

Teams around the league are currently in Phase 2 of the Return To Play initiative, where players can take part in voluntary, individualized on- and off-ice workouts in groups of no more than six at their home facilities. Phase 3 of the plan is set to start on July 10 with formal training camps beginning for the 24 teams in their home cities. After a 2-3 week period for training camp, the teams will then travel to their respective hub city, continue to practice, and take part in two exhibition games before Phase 4 (formal return of play) can be initiated.

Keep it locked to WGR and WGR550.com for the latest on this developing story.