Just wait until one division is weak but has two strong teams that rack up points against easier competition and grab the 1 and 2 seeds while the teams in the 2,3,4,5 are from the good division and beat each other up in the first round.
I understand your point.
Right now, Divisions mean something (and should) for seeding purposes because the schedule is unbalanced (2 games vs WC, 3 vs Atlantic and 4/5 vs Metro).
If the NHL went to pure 1-8 seeding in each conference, then the regular season schedule should be balanced within the entire conference as well. For EC teams, that likely would mean 2 games vs WC (30 games next year), leaving 52 games against the EC, so 3 or 4 games vs each of the other 15 teams in the EC (4 games vs 7 teams, 3 games vs 8 teams). I don't think NHL will change from an 82 game schedule ($$), nor will they likely eliminate the H&H with each team from the opposite conference. Personally, I hope they don't change the H&H against WC - I like seeing each team at least 1x at home, and I like CBJ having only 1 road trip to the Cal coast and one to western Canada.
If the NHL reduced opposite conference games to 1 game each year, that will prevent us from seeing CHI, MIN, NSH (or any other team that is your flavor) at home in some years, and would leave 4 games vs 8 teams in the EC and 5 games vs 7 other teams in the EC. In addition to fans not getting a chance to see certain teams 1x per year, I personally don't like that split within the conference, as the strength of schedules could look different depending upon who the "extra" 7 games are against and where those games are played. That's what the divisional schedule already does.
I'd hate to see a 1-16 seeding approach, as that
should mean a balanced schedule across the entire league. Next year with 31 teams, that would mean 11 teams x 2 and 20 teams x 3. That means some years we see Pitt and/or Caps and/or NYR and/or any other current rival 1x at home, and see Ariz, Col, Wpg, etc... 2x. The only teams in the WC I might want to see more of would be CHI, but that is because they are currently the beast in the West, and my dad rooted for them long before there was a CBJ (or before me even, as I'm mid-50's lol). Without a balanced schedule league-wide, then we'd have some teams feasting on Col/Ari in the West, with teams in the EC possibly 6-12 points disadvantaged by only playing those 2 cellar dwellers 2x each instead of 4/5 times each.
If you wanted to keep the scheduling and divisions "as is" (my preference), perhaps the better PO seeding answer would be top 4 in each division get in, no Wild Card teams, with
A1 vs M4
A3 vs M2
A2 vs M3
A4 vs M1.
Points could be determining factor of home ice, or the 1 and 2 seeds get home ice for the first round, regardless of points. That might work, but it won't fly - for example this year, if the Metro has the 4 strongest teams, then they may all win in the first round - so NO Canadian teams survive round 1, even though 3 will make it to the PO's in the EC. The lack of Canadian team in the Metro likely dooms my example...and I hadn't considered that until just now. In addition, the WC race in most years keeps certain teams in the race longer (Islanders would have been LONG ago eliminated with NYR at 100 points, and while Islanders not likely to get the WC2, they are at least mathematically alive). In theory those issues may not matter to us, especially in the year we are at 106 pts with 4 games to play (yeah!!!!), but it will matter to the NHL brass.
I very much like the regular season schedule the way it is now. I see the issues with the PO seeding, but my perspective is that you've got to beat the best at some point. I recognize any fanbase of a strong team would generally prefer a weaker 1st round opponent, for the better chance at a W and to not get beat up too much in anticipation of rounds 2 and 3. My proposal for a different PO seeding while keeping the regular season "as is" is spit-balling to address the real (or perceived) imbalances between divisions that many are expressing concern about. Not worried about it much, as there is no perfect way to address all of the issues, especially with the NHL's desire to promote divisional rivalries and the fact that 2 divisions contain most of the Canadian teams (all but 1?).
1-8 conference seeding may seem the "fairest" but the inability to better balance in-conference schedule for all teams combined with changes to the H&H with WC makes me OK with what is in place - Seeding within the division with the WC being the outlier.
So it appears we are getting our budding rival, starting either home or away, and will finish 2nd or 3rd in the conference. WHEN we win (I am not making Linus' mistake in the pumpkin patch), we will likely be facing the #1 seed in the Division (and in the conference) in Round 2 - that may not seem fair this year, but then both CBJ and PIT had chance to be #1 and did not get it done.
I guess the difference for us this year is that we aren't just glad to have made the dance, as in the past. When you get to the level of being in the top 5-8 teams, matchups become more of a concern for the fanbase, not just getting in. I hope we are kvetching about this every year!
