Should all teams make to the playoffs?

[justafan22]

Just scrap 10 games of the regular season, and make every series a best of 9

 

[Oddbob]

Than why have a regular season? It would be pointless if everyone gets in!

 

[Oddbob]

Just scrap 10 games of the regular season, and make every series a best of 9

Nah, get rid of the regular season and every series is a best of 15.

 

[MartyOwns]

get rid of the stanley cup altogether, and just let the players have a fun time playing with their friends

 

[tarheelhockey]

Wouldn't it be easier to just think of the regular season as a giant round-robin playoff?

 

[steveayres35]

This is actually a great idea IMO.

Imagine if the NHL playoff bracket turned into a March Madness Bracket:

1-16, 2-15, 3-14, 4-13, 5-13, etc.

Every team would have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. I just don't see why this is such a bad idea. The regular season would determine playoff positioning, and we can even adjust or shorten the season structure: (3 games a week)

(Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday) (Monday, Wednesday, & Friday) (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) (Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) (Thursday, Saturday, Monday) (Friday, Sunday, Tuesday) (Saturday, Monday, Wednesday)

Furthermore, a best of 3 or 5 series would be needed in order to fit all the games in. Then, the championship round would be a best of 7 series. On an extra note, we would need 32 teams (Seattle) in order for this to work.

Early Rounds: Best of 3
Middle to Later Rounds: Best of 5
Championship: Best of 7

 

[StoneHands]

All teams do make the playoffs. It's an 82 game round robin tournament and then the top 16 teams move on to the elimination rounds.

 

[cowboy82nd]

We've seen that even last playoff team can completely hone the exit cavity of the supposed best team of NHL. That is a clear argument for that maybe we should move to a system where every team goes to playoff. That would make everything possible because everything IS possible.

Then what is the regular season for, skippy (didn't want to end my sentence with a prepositional phrase)?

 

[romba]

Then what is the regular season for, skippy (didn't want to end my sentence with a prepositional phrase)?

It would be as if the top 16 teams separated themselves from the pack suuuuper early in the season and everyone was simply jostling for playoff position. Would make for some pretty boring, low intensity, 'playing to stay healthy and avoid serious injuries' hug-it-out hockey.

 

[Sweetpotato]

No. Never. Stop it.

 

[robsenz]

No, but with expansion more teams should be getting in. A team with a winning record not making the playoffs just doesn't seem right to me.

 

[ESH]

No, but with expansion more teams should be getting in. A team with a winning record not making the playoffs just doesn't seem right to me.

There’s no teams that didn’t make the playoffs with a winning record. The Avs didn’t even have a winning record and they made it in.

 

[robsenz]

There’s no teams that didn’t make the playoffs with a winning record. The Avs didn’t even have a winning record and they made it in.

huh? maybe check again...

 

[garnetpalmetto]

Let's not have this discussion and say we did.