When was the last time BOTH #1 seeds got trounced?

[qwerty]

Hockey gods.

Tampa’s historically great team is swept in 4.

2 time Cup winning Penguins swept in 4.

Top team in the West bounced in 5.

NHL is the weirdest most unpredictable league. This kind of stuff doesn’t happen in the NFL, MLB or NBA.

 

[SwaggySpungo]

NHL playoff randomness is a joke.

Considering this is the first time this has ever happened in the entire history of the league, I'd say you don't have much of a point.

Not really "random" either, consider both teams got positively spanked.

 

[Alexei Yashvalev]

Hockey gods.

Tampa’s historically great team is swept in 4.

2 time Cup winning Penguins swept in 4.

Top team in the West bounced in 5.

NHL is the weirdest most unpredictable league. This kind of stuff doesn’t happen in the NFL, MLB or NBA.

I guess, but it's not like the games are a coin flip determined by essentially random things.

The Blue Jackets, Islanders and Avalanche earned those wins. The top seeds were dominated for long stretches. Calgary gave up 100+ shots in two games.

It's an unusual year to say the least.

 

[qwerty]

I guess, but it's not like the games are a coin flip determined by essentially random things.

The Blue Jackets, Islanders and Avalanche earned those wins. The top seeds were dominated for long stretches. Calgary gave up 100+ shots in two games.

It's an unusual year to say the least.

Not saying all the teams didn’t deserve their wins. Just felt like to me like these scenarios were meant to be. Had that feeling after game 2 for some reason. Not sure way exactly.

 

[ricky0034]

Take it a step further. 1 division leader is gone. A second is about to be gone and the other two are in a 2-2 dog fight. It's a reasonable possibility that round 2 starts with none of them.

if only Pittsburgh hadn't ruined things we could be looking at a realistic possibility of the lower seed winning every single series in the first round with that plus the lower seed teams currently leading all 3 of the other ongoing series 3-2

but no they had to go get swept

 

[JoVel]

No, but I think don't think ALL the lower seeds have to win.

Do we REALLY want another Habs/Flyers or Ducks/Wild 2003?

God forbid a higher seed other than the Islanders win.

Like, now I have little reason to care for 6 months. Teams that tried hard are paying the price.

It's almost like college basketball now.

I mean it's not Colorado and Columbus' fault that the top teams shit the bed.

 

[Bluesnatic27]

Like, now I have little reason to care for 6 months. Teams that tried hard are paying the price.

It's almost like college basketball now.

Wouldn't this make you care more for six months? I mean if any team can win these playoff series, and the league is becoming more unpredictable, then teams have to try even harder during the regular season to even make the playoffs now. The parity means that a lot of teams can be competitive, so there are going to be far fewer instances where higher ranked teams can expect easy points in the regular season. If higher ranked teams would just walk in and sweep up events, then that would mean that most of the regular season wouldn't be worth watching until two highly ranked teams faced each other.

Personally, I want as much unpredictability as you can get. The last thing I want is to see the NHL become similar to the NBA where 70% of the league is worthless and where anyone has a 50% chance of guessing the champion before the season even starts. That, to me, would make the regular season AND most of the playoffs not worth watching.

 

[BlueDream]

No, but I think don't think ALL the lower seeds have to win.

Do we REALLY want another Habs/Flyers or Ducks/Wild 2003?

God forbid a higher seed other than the Islanders win.

Like, now I have little reason to care for 6 months. Teams that tried hard are paying the price.

It's almost like college basketball now.

Why don’t you just learn to enjoy things that rarely happen?

Why does this year have to be like EVERY other year for you to like it?

I don’t get it.

 

[c9777666]

Why don’t you just learn to enjoy things that rarely happen?

Why does this year have to be like EVERY other year for you to like it?

I don’t get it.

Just ONCE I would like to see an all-1 seed Cup Final. Only twice in the last 30 years (1989, 2001). Not every year, but once in a blue moon

 

[finath]

Just ONCE I would like to see an all-1 seed Cup Final. Only twice in the last 30 years (1989, 2001). Not every year, but once in a blue moon

Twice in 30 years is pretty close to what is expected. This year after regular season Lightning had 28.1% chance to reach finals and Flames had 22.0% (source Playoff Probabilities Report | Hockey-Reference.com). So the chance of both reaching the finals was only 6.16%, meaning about once in 16 years.

 

[PredsV82]

Usually when upsets like these happen it's because a goalie gets really hot and steals a series.

That doesnt seem to be the case this year.

Of course, if Columbus had had Duchene and Dzingel all year they probably wouldnt have been an 8 seed, and would have probably competed for the Metro title.

And the West just had a weird, down year. Without all the injuries and the "Cup hangover" Vegas is probably the top team in the Pacific, and the Jets and Preds both underperformed for a variety of reasons.

 

[goeb]

No, but I think don't think ALL the lower seeds have to win.

Do we REALLY want another Habs/Flyers or Ducks/Wild 2003?

God forbid a higher seed other than the Islanders win.

Like, now I have little reason to care for 6 months. Teams that tried hard are paying the price.

It's almost like college basketball now.

At the end of the day, to me at least, it is all about who wins the cup....and aside from the 2012 Kings, these lower seed teams never win the cup. Your chances of winning or getting to the cup finals are always better as a higher seed, so I would not say it is too random. The stars are just aligning this year for the big underdogs and it is becoming clear that the 8th seeds this year definitely underperformed during the regular season.

 

[MattMartin]

Hockey gods.

Tampa’s historically great team is swept in 4.

2 time Cup winning Penguins swept in 4.

Top team in the West bounced in 5.

NHL is the weirdest most unpredictable league. This kind of stuff doesn’t happen in the NFL, MLB or NBA.

Hard to get bounced in the NFL in the 1st round when the top 2 teams in each conference get a bye.

 

[goeb]

Hockey gods.

Tampa’s historically great team is swept in 4.

2 time Cup winning Penguins swept in 4.

Top team in the West bounced in 5.

NHL is the weirdest most unpredictable league. This kind of stuff doesn’t happen in the NFL, MLB or NBA.

Oh really:

https://www.printyourbrackets.com/mlb-playoff-results/mlb-2014.pdf

https://www.printyourbrackets.com/nfl-playoff-results/nfl-2011.pdf

 

[GKJ]

For those who complain, and I'm not saying it's not justified, about the playoff format not being a 1-8 conference (if not 1-16), this is exactly why the league doesn't care.

 

[KingsFan7824]

TB, 49 regulation wins. Cgy, 45 regulation wins. 3rd in the league was Tor, with 40. Can't blame the playoff format. Can't blame the regular season. Can't blame inflated OT/SO winner points. This is all on TB and Cgy.

 

[NDiesel]

No, but I think don't think ALL the lower seeds have to win.

Do we REALLY want another Habs/Flyers or Ducks/Wild 2003?

God forbid a higher seed other than the Islanders win.

Like, now I have little reason to care for 6 months. Teams that tried hard are paying the price.

It's almost like college basketball now.

Who cares?

If Carolina and Colorado or Columbus and Dallas earn their way to the cup then their seeding is irrelevant. There's a reason that they don't play games on paper, it would be 1 seed v 1 seed every season if they did - is knowing that the top seeds will always win more exciting?

 

[qwerty]

Hard to get bounced in the NFL in the 1st round when the top 2 teams in each conference get a bye.

More so meant that underdogs don’t win as often as the NHL, not so much that top seeds are bounced out by the lowest seeds. Obviously Pittsburgh wasn’t a top seed but was considered a contender and to be swept was a surprise.

 

[qwerty]

Oh really:

https://www.printyourbrackets.com/mlb-playoff-results/mlb-2014.pdf

https://www.printyourbrackets.com/nfl-playoff-results/nfl-2011.pdf

Guess I probably shouldn’t have included MLB or NFL. Less teams make the playoffs vs the 16 teams that do in the NHL and NBA so the “upsets” wouldn’t be as comparable.

 

[qwerty]

TB, 49 regulation wins. Cgy, 45 regulation wins. 3rd in the league was Tor, with 40. Can't blame the playoff format. Can't blame the regular season. Can't blame inflated OT/SO winner points. This is all on TB and Cgy.

I give all the credit to Columbus and Colorado. They played do or die playoff hockey for a month+ and had that urgency from game 1. The Flames and the Lightning both had the top seeds wrapped up very early and didn’t play meaningful intense hockey for a month(s). Both teams just had a hard time ratcheting up the same intensity and urgency to compete.

WPG gone, so another higher seed has been eliminated. Weird weird playoffs.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

1964 is the last time the two teams with the top records/seeds were eliminated in the first round I believe. As far as I can tell, 1961 is the only other time it has happened.

Why do so many people like this post when it’s wrong.

Everything says it’s never happened before.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

NHL playoff randomness is a joke.

Yeah such a joke that top teams get outworked by teams that are hungrier. Should the NHL just do away with the playoffs and award the regular season winners.

Better yet, should we switch it to the NBA where we know who will win every series? Because that’s fun.

 

[wayninja]

NHL playoff randomness is a joke.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

NHL playoff randomness is a joke.

I mean 3 teams have won 8 of the last 10 cups, it hasn't been that random. Just a bit of a changing of the guard going on right now with new elite teams trying to establish themselves. For all we know Colorado may be the next dominant team. Calgary's loss won't seem that random in retrospect.

 

[c9777666]

I give all the credit to Columbus and Colorado. They played do or die playoff hockey for a month+ and had that urgency from game 1. The Flames and the Lightning both had the top seeds wrapped up very early and didn’t play meaningful intense hockey for a month(s). Both teams just had a hard time ratcheting up the same intensity and urgency to compete.

WPG gone, so another higher seed has been eliminated. Weird weird playoffs.

Too weird.

At this rate, the NHL regular season might as well be the NBA regular season. No incentive to try and finish high in the standings, just tread water until the deadline because apparently you don't want to clinch too early.