What if the Stanley Cup Playoffs were a Single Knockout Tournament?

BlueBull

Habby Man
Oct 11, 2017
1,696
1,434
Vancouver Island
Scenario: In the Offseason of 1997, the NHL announces that, to discourage Super Teams and Make the Stanley Cup Playoffs more fun, They are making The Playoffs a Single Knockout tournament that will be active as of 1998 Playoffs (with the same 8 Playoff Teams per Conference Style Format), and are going replace the Missing Games with a Rival Series that will be Active as of the 1999 Post-Season (Not as important in this Scenario)

With this Scenario, a Playoff system is formed fill with Exciting Games Galore and Underdogs winning Championships Often.
Note 1: The Re-Seeding after each round that occurred until 2013 is a little messed up in this Scenario, but Most champions probably could have still won regardless.
Note 2: These are only the Finalists and Finals Results, but there are still a lot of stories to make out of these Finals.
Note 3: How did I do this? Well, when Teams were the same in a playoff round, I looked at the real life game 1 and have the winner go the next round (Or win the cup, but that only Occurs twice in this scenario). If they are different, I do a single game sim on WhatifSports.com... Yes I simmed each Playoffs from round 1.
1998: Buffalo Sabres over Edmonton Oilers
1999*: Dallas Stars over Boston Bruins
2000: Toronto Maple Leafs over Colorado Avalanche
2001*: Colorado Avalanche over Buffalo Sabres
2002: San Jose Sharks over Toronto Maple Leafs
2003: St. Louis Blues over Toronto Maple Leafs
2004: San Jose Sharks over Tampa Bay Lightning
2005: Despite the rule to discourage Super Teams, Lockout and Salary Cap Era still Happens.
2006: Detroit Red Wings over New Jersey Devils
2007: San Jose Sharks over Ottawa Senators
2008**: Detroit Red Wings over Pittsburgh Penguins
2009: Boston Bruins over Vancouver Canucks
2010: Vancouver Canucks over Ottawa Senators
2011^: Vancouver Canucks over Montreal Canadiens
2012: San Jose Sharks over Philadelphia Flyers
2013: Pittsburgh Penguins over Anaheim Ducks
2014: San Jose Sharks over New York Rangers
2015: Anaheim Ducks over Montreal Canadiens
2016: Washington Capitals over Dallas Stars
2017**: Pittsburgh Penguins over Nashville Predators
*Same Champion That Year
**Same Finalists and Champions That Year
^This is true, but I wanted Montreal to win. I did 12 Game sims before they did so. This is based off of game one. No, I did not rig any of the games, this is the only game I tried to then held back on afterwards.

-BlueBull
 

Doctor No

Registered User
Oct 26, 2005
9,249
3,970
hockeygoalies.org
Scenario: In the Offseason of 1997, the NHL announces that, to discourage Super Teams and Make the Stanley Cup Playoffs more fun,

(1) How in the world would this discourage "super teams"? Longer series reduce variance, and even if you only have (say) a 60% chance of winning one game, you've got a better chance of winning the series. In a functional best-of-one series, teams would be incentivized to load up as much as possible, since you don't get a mulligan.

(2) How in the world would this make the Stanley Cup playoffs "more fun"?

The Stanley Cup playoffs are great. This doesn't make them better.
 
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MattMartin

Killer Instinct™
Feb 10, 2007
17,438
9,990
Long Island
Scenario: In the Offseason of 1997, the NHL announces that, to discourage Super Teams and Make the Stanley Cup Playoffs more fun, They are making The Playoffs a Single Knockout tournament that will be active as of 1998 Playoffs (with the same 8 Playoff Teams per Conference Style Format), and are going replace the Missing Games with a Rival Series that will be Active as of the 1999 Post-Season (Not as important in this Scenario)

With this Scenario, a Playoff system is formed fill with Exciting Games Galore and Underdogs winning Championships Often.
Note 1: The Re-Seeding after each round that occurred until 2013 is a little messed up in this Scenario, but Most champions probably could have still won regardless.
Note 2: These are only the Finalists and Finals Results, but there are still a lot of stories to make out of these Finals.
Note 3: How did I do this? Well, when Teams were the same in a playoff round, I looked at the real life game 1 and have the winner go the next round (Or win the cup, but that only Occurs twice in this scenario). If they are different, I do a single game sim on WhatifSports.com... Yes I simmed each Playoffs from round 1.
1998: Buffalo Sabres over Edmonton Oilers
1999*: Dallas Stars over Boston Bruins
2000: Toronto Maple Leafs over Colorado Avalanche
2001*: Colorado Avalanche over Buffalo Sabres
2002: San Jose Sharks over Toronto Maple Leafs
2003: St. Louis Blues over Toronto Maple Leafs
2004: San Jose Sharks over Tampa Bay Lightning
2005: Despite the rule to discourage Super Teams, Lockout and Salary Cap Era still Happens.
2006: Detroit Red Wings over New Jersey Devils
2007: San Jose Sharks over Ottawa Senators
2008**: Detroit Red Wings over Pittsburgh Penguins
2009: Boston Bruins over Vancouver Canucks
2010: Vancouver Canucks over Ottawa Senators
2011^: Vancouver Canucks over Montreal Canadiens
2012: San Jose Sharks over Philadelphia Flyers
2013: Pittsburgh Penguins over Anaheim Ducks
2014: San Jose Sharks over New York Rangers
2015: Anaheim Ducks over Montreal Canadiens
2016: Washington Capitals over Dallas Stars
2017**: Pittsburgh Penguins over Nashville Predators
*Same Champion That Year
**Same Finalists and Champions That Year
^This is true, but I wanted Montreal to win. I did 12 Game sims before they did so. This is based off of game one. No, I did not rig any of the games, this is the only game I tried to then held back on afterwards.

-BlueBull

Not sure of what I just read, am sure I now have a headache.
 

BlueBull

Habby Man
Oct 11, 2017
1,696
1,434
Vancouver Island
(1) How in the world would this discourage "super teams"? Longer series reduce variance, and even if you only have a 60% chance of winning one game, you've got a better chance of winning the series. In a functional best-of-one series, teams would be incentivized to load up as much as possible, since you don't get a mulligan.

(2) How in the world would this make the Stanley Cup playoffs "more fun"?

The Stanley Cup playoffs are great. This doesn't make them better.
First of all, It's a Fantasy. It's just for fun. It would never happen, It's just fun to imagine. Secondly, I thought that this way upsets would happen more often. Thirdly, The champions would not end up like this. This is just how the WhatIfSports Engine came up with, and that's just the way it seems. Lastly, I made this to make us think of the changes it would make to Teams Destinies and Players Destinies. The Stories are Very Tempting.
 

Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk

Effortless sexy.
Jul 13, 2006
12,719
1,049
Cumberland
I actually don't mind this idea. It would make suspensions even more brutal, as well as injuries.
In a one-off you won't be piddling around, and instead going for it.
Would love to see it tried at another level first. at the very least.
 

BlueBull

Habby Man
Oct 11, 2017
1,696
1,434
Vancouver Island
Here are some stories that I see from here:
1. Because of the 5 Cups That the sharks Won, I think there will be more than One Hall of Famer on this Team. Along with Joe Thornton, I think Forwards like Patrick Marleau (5 Cups), Vincent Damphousse (2 Cups plus a Cup in 1993) and Johnathan Cheechoo (Ehhh...) (2 Cups), Defenseman Brent Burns (2 Cups), and Goalies like Evgeni Nabokov (3 Cups) and Anti Niemi (Maybe, not really.) (2 Cups) would have a Hockey Hall of Fame Case. San Jose would be the new Detroit Red Wings. So much for that "Discouraging Super Teams" thing.
2. Toronto fans would have something to be proud about. Thanks to an OT goal by Steve Thomas to win 5-4 in OT, The Cup Drought in Toronto would only be 18 Years rater than 51. They would also have been considered the Top team in the league Pre-Sharks. The Names of Mats Sundin, Steve Thomas, Tomas Kaberle and Curtis Joseph would all ring the bell in Leafs Fans minds... The People who Let Toronto win it's 14th Stanley Cup
3. The Canucks Dominance of 2008 to 2012 would be remembered in Triumph. They would still riot, as they lost to the bruins in 2009. But they then proceed to win in 2010 to Ottawa, and 2011 to Montreal. They are the only team to repeat in the "April Absurdity" ( :D ) Era, and the 2 Cups Seal The Sedins Twins and Louongo's Legacy.
 

coolboarder

Registered User
Mar 4, 2010
1,424
296
Maryland
This single game knockout does not determine a champion because you could run into a hot goaltending and lose the game. That goaltender could then fizz out the longer the series went on and could therefore wear himself out playing out of the world netminder.
 

Vancouver Canucks

Registered User
Feb 8, 2015
14,591
2,587
This single game knockout does not determine a champion because you could run into a hot goaltending and lose the game. That goaltender could then fizz out the longer the series went on and could therefore wear himself out playing out of the world netminder.

Well, teams can be more conscious of the fact that each round gets decided by a single game and improve on their plays. With that mentality, even a hot-riding goaltender can be cooled.
 

HunterSThompson

[}=[][][][][]
Jun 19, 2007
4,480
1,097
Washington, DC
Once Seattle is in, open it up to all 32 teams, it adds 16 games for more revenue. Regular season is merely for seeding purposes. Top 16 teams draft the team that they wish to play in the first round based on regular season win record. There is a new draft after each round. There is also a loser bracket that forms to secure the top spot in that summer's draft.

Market the hell out of May Madness= cash cow
 

HandshakeLineRespect

Respect in the Handshake Line
Apr 17, 2017
1,871
1,950
Brampton
Once Seattle is in, open it up to all 32 teams, it adds 16 games for more revenue. Regular season is merely for seeding purposes. Top 16 teams draft the team that they wish to play in the first round based on regular season win record. There is a new draft after each round. There is also a loser bracket that forms to secure the top spot in that summer's draft.

Market the hell out of May Madness= cash cow
Ridiculous
 
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HockeyAnalystGenius

Registered User
Jun 15, 2017
678
288
Would be Better than the Current Regime. 7 Games is a Waste of Time. The Season is too Long anyway. Make regular Season 32 games and playoffs 1-round Knock Out.
 

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