Playoff setup Love it/Hate it ?

[Devlin]

Being a Bruins fan , i hate this playoff format. I suppose some Leaf fans feel the same.

Miss the old 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7.

Any other sport do this?

[jameslacarte]

I liked it the old way as well. You play 82 games to get the most points & highest seed. The only team that really benefits from this is the #1 seed. All 2 & 3 seeds play each other so 1 good team is gone in the 1st round. It makes for better hockey when those teams meet in the 2nd or even better, the 3rd round. Why fix something that wasn't broken?

[30ranfordfan]

I don't think the current format is perfect (I would change it, once Seattle comes into the league) but I prefer it to the 1 vs 8.

Boston vs Toronto is a great example. You guys are right.... two of the best three teams in the Eastern Conference will face off in the first round. I don't think that's as bad of a thing as you make it out to be though. The whole "not fair that a really good team goes out so early". Meh. If these teams are that good.. one is going to knock the other out eventually, so does it matter if it's in round 1 or 2 ?

The whole point to returning to divisional playoffs (like it was prior to 1993-94) was to make those divisional rivalries more important.

Here's the thing.... Boston knocked out the Leafs last year. They're going to be playing each other again this year.... and you know what? Unless something major changes in the division: They're probably going to play each other in the first round again next year.

If the top teams in a division stay there for an extended period of time... and teams constantly see the same 1 or 2 teams in the playoffs year after year: That's what will make rivalries a big thing.


I suppose you could argue that rivalries don't really matter anymore... it's a concept left over from an era where regions were more important, TV coverage didn't exist like it does today, free agency wasn't yet a thing..... but I like them.


Using the Leafs again: Toronto vs Ottawa was never much of a rivalry for the first 10 years that the Sens were in the league. The close proximity didn't matter. The teams never played games of consequence, so who cares? It's pretty much back there again.... but for a while (say 10-15 years ago) that was a HUGE rivalry, because they kept playing in the playoffs.

[SabresGuy]

For me I would change it back to the old format. I would not say I hate it, and I do get what they are trying to do. My biggest problem is they are delivering great rivalry matchups, but they are happening too early. Too many good teams are bumped out in round one when these very good matchups happen right away. Then a softer team in a very soft division can slip through to the second or third rounds. I would revert to the old format to keep as many of these premium matchups as possible for late in the playoffs.

[30ranfordfan]

Yeah, I see the point. If I look at last year's standings.... in the East.... TB and BOS were the top two teams... and the 3rd place in the Atlantic (TOR) was tied with 1st place in the Metro (WSH).

With how the WC works, the same 8 teams make the playoffs that would have in a 1 vs 8 system (hypothetically that isn't true... but for it to be untrue: 6 teams in one division would have to have a higher point total than no more than 2 in the other).

In a 1 vs 8 scenario: WSH would still have gotten the #2 seed (despite having the 3rd best record) so you would have seen this:

Tampa vs New Jersey
Washington vs Columbus
Boston vs Philly
Toronto vs Pittsburgh

Note that the two involving division winners stayed the same, but the other swapped opponents.

Now, I'm not sure why people think that this would somehow be "more fair". The Leafs (in theory) got a raw deal. Despite their great season, with 105 points, they drew Boston in round #1. Was Boston a better team than Pittsburgh last year? Well, yes.... the standings say that was true - but does anyone really believe that the Leafs had a significantly better shot at beating the Pens than the Bruins? Personally, I don't.

If you make that swap, we end up with the same 4 teams in the 2nd round (I think) - but the matchups (again) would be different.

Is it unfair because Tampa (the best team) had to go through Boston (the second best team) and that took too much out of them, which is why they lost to Washington? The Caps (somehow) had an easier 2nd round... because they had to go through the Pens (who were back-to-back Champs, and had owned them in the playoffs up until that point).

I dunno. I just don't see what that 1 vs 8 is better. I like the idea of creating Toronto vs Boston, or Pittsburgh vs Philly EVERY year, if those teams are good.

Myself - what I would change... happens once Seattle joins:

That brings the league up to four divisions of eight. There is no longer an advantage to playing in a smaller division. You no longer need to do something to equalize the numbers between a division of 8 and a division of 7... so drop the WC as a way to "steal" the other division's spot.

Instead, I'd change it so that the top 3 make it... and then 4 & 5 play a one game play-in game... hosted by #4. You'd get 4 1-game elimination games... which would be incredibly exciting. You'd also keep more teams in the race longer, making the last month meaningful in more cities.

Of course this will create the scenario where the #6 team in one division is better than the #5 in the other (That exists, right now, in both conferences) but I'm okay with that.

[jackpot]

As a fan my favorite format would be the top 4 of each division makes the playoffs and they face each other in the first 2 rounds of the playoffs. And then there would be the conference final between the 2 division champion. That would be sick for rivalries, every division matchup will be super exciting to watch for any fans.

And also during the regular season, division teams should face each other 6 to 8 times instead of only 4, get rid of Habs-Coyotes games and replace them with more Habs-Leafs or Habs-Bruins games

[30ranfordfan]

As a fan my favorite format would be the top 4 of each division makes the playoffs and they face each other in the first 2 rounds of the playoffs. And then there would be the conference final between the 2 division champion. That would be sick for rivalries, every division matchup will be super exciting to watch for any fans.

And also during the regular season, division teams should face each other 6 to 8 times instead of only 4, get rid of Habs-Coyotes games and replace them with more Habs-Leafs or Habs-Bruins games

Agree. When they go to 32 teams in a couple of years... I think the schedule becomes easy. I'd do something like this:

Other conference, 1 game each. Play one division at home, other on the road. Thats 16 games. Swap year over year.

Same conference, other division: 3 times each. 1 home, 1 road. 4 teams you host a 2nd time, other 4 you visit twice. That swaps every other year. 24 games.

The remaining 42 are in division: That's 6 each.

With divisional playoffs: Teams would be playing each other for the 7th time when game 1 starts. That makes for compelling hockey, IMO.

[forceplay sport]

This format is garbage, I agree with the fact that the Bruins and Leafs also the Caps and Pens too . Go back to the old format it was fine.

[creasecollector]

I prefer the older format better. It was really straightforward.

I suppose the new format was to keep the playoff races tighter and make for more excitement, which it does to an extent, but I don't think it rewards teams like the old system did with a favourable first round playoff matchup.

[OscarsCards]

No offense boys but y'all look like crybabies. I don't like it because my team can't win blah blah blah, man up boys because y'all can't be more biased than that.

It's tight, it's close because that's what it needs to be.