kdb209 said:
No. In fact in an earlier post I explicitly mentioned the possible 1 game playoffs in MLB and said they were not playoffs, but counted as regular season games.
Do you know why they are regular season games? Because MLB says so. The results go into the final regular season standings (yes a team will have 163 regular season games) and any stats from the game count as part of regular season stats.
The '75-'79 first round games were playoff games, because the NHL called them playoff games. Thay had no bearing on regulars season standings or stats, and the NHL counted all the stats as part of that years SC playoff statistics.
I guess we'll see what how the NHL treats them. Do they count them as regular season games for standings and stats - no chance in hell. Do they count the results towards playoff stats - very likely. If they do, then they are playoff games - period, end of story. If they create some nebulous new category of games and count the stats as neither part of the regular season stats nor playoff stats (very unlikely IMNSHO), then I will admit I'm wrong and eat Spungo size piece of humble pie.
I was just pointing out that in the last 38 years the NHL has expanded and modified it's playoff format so many times, going from 4 to 8 to 12 to 16 and now speculatively to 20 teams, changed the number of games in the opening rounds, and used a variety of seeding formats. In every case all the games played after the end of the regular season were considered playoff games. Give me one good reason why this (relatively minor) playoff format change would be treated any differently.
You could use your common sense and rely on the 5 or so good reasons I've already given you. But if you chose not to, here are several for ya, listed in point form, brah.
- The stone cold fact is that these 3 game mini series' are used only to determine what 2 teams (from 7-10) in each conference get the last 2 spots in the traditional Stanley Cup playoffs.
What's happening is that teams 7-10 are forced to play extra games to make their way into the playoffs, not 12 teams are being given byes.
An extra hurdle is being added for the runts of the litter, nothing is being added for teams 1-6. A "bye" would be if the NHL reduced the number of playoff rounds for a certain number of teams (those teams getting a actual first round bye), not added a round for the runts (which is what this play-in is all about).
- More teams sit around scratching their nuts than actually play in this so-called "first round of the playoffs"... yeah right. Claiming that one or two teams gets a "bye" in the first round may be defensible, but when the vast
majority of teams get a "bye" and never have to play in this "first round", logic dictates that it's more a play-in than a play-off. You are fighting for the right to join the majority of teams who are sitting pretty, waiting for the real playoffs to start.
- Fan reaction. Only a fool will be proud that his team finished 10th and "made the playoffs" only to be trounced in 2 back to back games and be sent home. His team didn't make the playoffs, they made the play-ins, which are tiny, little 3 game mini series which determine who makes the playoffs. There isn't going to be any pride, from fans or from players to have made the play-ins.
- Finally, if you can't see the HUGE difference between 3 game mini series of the bottom dwellers fighting to get into the playoffs vs. 7 games actual Stanley Cup playoffs series', then that's your problemo, brah.