Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said NHL players will be tested for the coronavirus daily if games start happening.

"We will have a rigorous daily testing protocol where players are tested every evening and those results are obtained before they would leave their hotel rooms the next morning, so we'll know if we have a positive test and whether the player has to self-quarantine himself as a result of that positive test," Daly said. "It's expensive, but we think it's really a foundational element of what we're trying to accomplish."

Each test costs approximately $125, the league says, and commissioner Gary Bettman estimated 25,000-35,000 will be needed to get through the playoffs -- a price tag, he concedes, of millions of dollars.

The NHL has advised its teams to prepare for a roster of 28 players and an unlimited amount of goaltenders for training camp and the playoffs if it can return this summer.

Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is keeping coach Jeff Blashill despite another lackluster season.

Yzerman told reporters on Wednesday his previously announced plans to keep Blashill behind the bench have not changed. Blashill's record over five seasons in Detroit is 153-194-52.

Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill has ownership's backing to return for a fourth season despite overseeing a team that will miss the playoffs for a ninth consecutive year, team president and co-owner Kim Pegula told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights are co-favorites in the updated odds to win the Stanley Cup at Caesars Sportsbook, as the NHL attempts to pull off an unorthodox finish to its season.

The NHL announced Tuesday that the top 24 teams when play was suspended March 12 will get a shot at an expanded Stanley Cup playoff -- if the season can be resumed.

The NHL will abandon the rest of the regular season and go straight into the playoffs with 24 teams instead of 16 if it is able to resume play, commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday.

"As we seek some return to normalcy, this is an important day for NHL fans," Bettman said of the Return To Play Plan. "Since March 12, we've been hopeful and optimistic that by developing all options and alternatives, we could get to this point. I know I join sports fans everywhere when I say we cannot wait for the players to hit the ice again."

Bettman said the goal is to hold an 82-game season in 2020-21.

The National Hockey League Players' Association executive board voted to approve a 24-team, conference-based playoff format for a potential restart of the 2019-20 NHL season this summer.

"The Executive Board of the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) has authorized further negotiations with the NHL on a 24-team return to play format to determine the winner of the 2020 Stanley Cup. Several details remain to be negotiated and an agreement on the format would still be subject to the parties reaching agreement on all issues relevant to resuming play," the union said in a statement.

The NHL Players' Association executive board started voting Thursday on a proposed 24-team, conference-based playoff format for a potential restart to the 2019-20 season this summer. Results of the voting could be available as early as Friday night.

The NHL and the NHLPA are discussing a 24-team, conference-based playoff format for a potential restart to the 2019-20 season this summer, sources confirmed to ESPN.

The proposed format was first reported by Sportsnet.

Veteran New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider said Monday that a growing number of players are concerned the NHL will announce a "drop-dead" deadline for returning to play as the coronavirus pandemic lingers with summer coming up fast.

The 34-year-old Schneider said some Devils are apprehensive because the NHL has said it would take three weeks of training before allowing games. That would push any restart into June.