At Moment ,Canes 9th place in Eastern Conference, Leafs 6th place but Canes have more points

[Stickpucker]

Caps Canes Isles Pens would be fun 1st round again so I don't hate the system per say....but it can be unfair from year to year.

 

[The Macho King]

I like the playoff format as I really think it builds rivalries but I can see how fans find it frustrating when it works against your particular team

What rivalries have come from this?

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Sorry Canes/Tampa/Wsh and Florida fans but you have no leg to stand on when it comes to complaining about playoff seeding. Anyone remember the South East division?
1998-1999 NHL Hockey Standings

So Toronto won all their championships when there was like 12 teams in the league, does that mean they also have no leg to stand on?

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Since no one here seems to think from the other sides of things, I will play devil's advocate. No one cares what you think, the league and the owners only care about money and revenue. The playoffs generate income, so as an owner, would you want your chances to diminish from the current odds to grab a playoff spot in the current divisional system, or go down significantly with a 1-8 system or 1-16 system? From the Owners stand point, you would never do that. You aim for the better odds to make more money which is the current system.

The league saying they want to make rivalries and all that is them blowing smoke up everyone's ass. They don't care about that. This system is all about giving owners a better chance to make the playoffs, even if they aren't the better team.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

If they went to 1-16 seeding, I think you would have to go to a regular season without conferences, where everyone plays a similar schedule in order for it to be fair.

ie: during the regular season, every team plays 41 games against the " East" and 41 games against the "West"

 

[MardyBum]

How much sympathy did Leaf fans get when they complained about the division system matching them against the 2nd conference seed the last two seasons?

I don't especially like the system either but it's the system we've got.

You can say this multiple times a year. Jets and Nashville were #1 and #2 in the entire NHL in 17-18 and met in the second round, for example. Jets also played the #8 ranked team in the league in the first round., despite behing #2 in the entire NHL.

A team missing the playoffs with more points than another team is different than bad seeding because of an inane playoff set up. One is much, much worse.

But again, it's early, and by the end of the year it will probably still be the best 16 teams that make it.

 

[Sky04]

You know what divisions are right? The old format also had divsion winners being seeded higher than teams with more points also.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

Since no one here seems to think from the other sides of things, I will play devil's advocate. No one cares what you think, the league and the owners only care about money and revenue. The playoffs generate income, so as an owner, would you want your chances to diminish from the current odds to grab a playoff spot in the current divisional system, or go down significantly with a 1-8 system or 1-16 system? From the Owners stand point, you would never do that. You aim for the better odds to make more money which is the current system.

The league saying they want to make rivalries and all that is them blowing smoke up everyone's ass. They don't care about that. This system is all about giving owners a better chance to make the playoffs, even if they aren't the better team.

Same number of playoff teams in any scenario and therefore the same odds of any individual team making the playoffs?

 

[Deadly Dogma]

So Toronto won all their championships when there was like 12 teams in the league, does that mean they also have no leg to stand on?

It was 6 teams and it depends on who they are arguing with. But I tend to agree the Leafs 13 cups while cool hardly compares to modern dynasties.

 

[Sky04]

This is a major flaw in the League and not fair at all.Yes it could still right itself but I think the 1 vs 8 format needs to be brought back.There are 3 teams behind Leafs with more points.It is almost laughable that these smart people that draw this up think this is good having teams with more pts potentially missing playoffs over teams with less points..Leave your thoughts but you have mine.Thanks p.s. If this was Bruins I would still feel the same way too.

What good team? You're fighting over 2 teams in 8th/9th place in the East with a 1 point differential. The way you're crying about it makes it seem like Carolina was up by 6 points and still not in a playoff position, if that were the case you'd have a very good argument. The difference between them is so negligible it doesn't matter which one of them gets in, Toronto just happens to have the divisional advantage, maybe Carolina should win more games then cause "good teams' don't have to worry about scraping in.

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Same number of playoff teams in any scenario and therefore the same odds of any individual team making the playoffs?

You're competing with less teams to make the playoffs with the current system. You only have to place in the top 3 in your division to make it. It's easier for a weak division in the current system than it would ever be in a 1-16

 

[Orfieus]

*I have no dog in the fight regarding the teams in this thread.*

I grew up with the 1-8 playoffs and I think that is the best way to go. The NHL has tried creating rivalries since the 04-05 lockout in various forms and it has never really worked IMO.

I would like to go back to the old system with one change. Under the old system, 1-3 seeds were all the division winners, with the rest of the field lined up behind them. Bring back the 1-8 format but seed them according to points. The division winners will all have a guaranteed playoff spot but not a top seed unless their points dictate so.

That is such BS, because of how the playoff format we got the Pittsburgh - Washington rivalry, and the Toronto Boston is turning out to be a good rivalry

There is also some great rivalries out west so you can't say it isn't working as intended, it 100% is

 

[BigEezyE22]

Is this thread going to reboot every time the 5/6 Metro teams flip?

 

[GoBuds14]

To play devils advocate here, a teams point total is heavily affected and skewed by playing more within their division, as opposed to playing every team in the league the same amount, therefore comparing point totals of teams from other divisions can be tricky (more so the fault with the 1-16 playoff proposal if divisions remained intact) In this instance, Carolina's division also happens to be harder than Toronto's, therefore if I was a Canes fan I'd be annoyed.

 

[glovesave_35]

That is such BS, because of how the playoff format we got the Pittsburgh - Washington rivalry, and the Toronto Boston is turning out to be a good rivalry

There is also some great rivalries out west so you can't say it isn't working as intended, it 100% is

Very reasoned take.

No, we already had a Washington/Pittsburgh rivalry before this system was implemented.

To say something is working you have to prove the previous system was not working. It absolutely was. The early 2000's playoffs had great rivalries and they were organic.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

So I probably have the even more unpopular opinion that once Seattle joins they should do away with the wildcard entirely. You win your division to advance to the semi-finals, top 4 finisher in each division play. Yes there will be some tough luck 5th place teams over the years, but too bad, don't finish behind 4 teams in your division. That is more in keeping with the 80s and will create the rivalries they are actually seeking. The Wildcard is what screws up those intentions to me and once we have a balanced 32 with 4 divisions of 8 I would prefer true division champions ala the 80s.

I would be okay with reseeding in the semifinals. You could do away with conference championships or keep East/West though I think here you reward the regular season and better divisions with a seeding of the four division champions based on point totals from the season. But I would like you to win your actual divisional playoffs against your true division opponents to get the semifinal. I doubt it happens, but that will always be my preference.

I think we have some rivalry out of this format, I think you get even more by doing away with the wildcard. You fight the same teams to get to the top of the mountain. The games mean more in the regular season and in the playoffs you're likely to see the same teams for decent chunks of years where true hatred would be built in my opinion.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

Now the Canes are 9th in the east with 68 points, ahead of 5 out of the 8 Western play off teams

 

[ToDavid]

We’re now back to normal with the top 8 in the East in playoff spots. These threads should really wait until the end of the year.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

This is a major flaw in the League and not fair at all.

The major flaw is that teams do not all have all the same amount games played at all times?

 

[LeafalCrusader]

Payback for all those years in the southleast division. JK the system should just be a 1 vs 8 format. No argument there from me.

 

[SwaggySpungo]

Simple solution - get rid of the wild card.

1-4 in each division. Nice and easy. No crying. No whining. Just finish in the top half of your division and there won’t be any problems.

 

[tlk]

I like the playoff format as I really think it builds rivalries

bringing rivalries back is important

The NHL has tried creating rivalries since the 04-05 lockout in various forms and it has never really worked IMO.

Cos rivalries don't come out of the marketing department.

Rivalries are created in playoffs no matter who you play. It's dumb force feeding them

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Toronto just trying to not play Boston in the first round at all cost.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

Even in the 1-8 there was still issues remember how the weakest conference vision winner would get that third spot even if the teams 4th,5th had more points.

Carolina or Washington usually did this I think? Usually a southeast team as that division was by far the worst.

but I still like the 1-8, 1v16 would be crazy I know they wouldn’t do it (they did that I believe in 1980ish) because of travel and such

 

[tlk]

1v16 would be crazy I know they wouldn’t do it (they did that I believe in 1980ish) because of travel and such

however that's much more likely to generate additional hype (MONEY!), rather than this divvy malarkey IMO

should at least reseed the semis 100%
and it's even been "looked at" apparently