Sportsnet How the NHL playoffs could look

[alg363636]

That's such bull for us. We're 8 points up over Tampa - it's not like we are neck and neck. We've been ahead all season. We are 6 points ahead of any other team in the NHL. We shouldn't be dependent on 3 games after months of not playing to finally avoid playing Toronto and get a much easier wild card seed.

This really should just go by pts % or have the wild card spots battle it out but I don't see why we might lose our #1 seed after clearly being not only the best team in our division but in the league all year.

 

[SPLBRUIN]

Call it a season, See the NHL next year on time.

Really dont see the point in all of this.

Who's to say this pandemic dosen't return next year. The logical move is to complete a season that is 85% complete, even if it has to be completed in the fall.

 

[SPLBRUIN]

I'm not understanding why 1 needs to play 2 at all, we've already determined which is 1 and 2.....

Just begging for TB to injure some players like St. Louis did in what is essentially two or three irrelevant, free cheapshot games.

I agree, this divisional race is over, extremely unlikely that TB catches us. Hate seeing teams like the Bruins being punished for their strong play, while teams like the Sabres and Habs who are done get a life line thrown to them.


Without further information it seems like a useless idea to solve a non existent problem.

 

[DominicT]

Report now is the NHL considering moving straight through to the playoffs, 16 teams and all games would be played in the arena of the team that has home ice advantage, meaning the Bruins would not play a single road game throughout.

 

[DominicT]

Let's also not forget - TV rights. If the Bruins play the Lightning in a 3 game series, are you going to watch, even if it's only for seeding? Hell, yeah! Will NBC have to pay for the rights to the games? Hell, yeah! Will advertisers pay NBC? Hell, yeah!

It's been reported many times, but TV rights have already been paid to the league (NBC and Rogers). If there are no playoffs, the league has to either pay them back or give the networks a credit towards next season.

 

[TD Charlie]

I get the logic behind it, but i don’t like it

that being said, it’s hockey, the Bruins are in the playoffs, let’s f***ing go

 

[Alberta_OReilly_Fan]

I have to admit I cant watch wrestling with no audience... and Saturday night live from home with no audience has really sucked

im thinking nhl hockey wont be as bad without an audience but im a little worried it might be radically 'different' and a little tainted

that said... the league simply must make every best effort possible to complete this season. some virus pandemics of the past have lasted for years. the Spanish flu which is the big granddaddy of the past 100 years effected the world 2 consequtive springs.

now I personally feel by the time next spring rolls around the fear level will be down substantially and we will realize this virus holds roughly the same danger to healthy young people as the flu does... but even a bad flu will play havok on a hockey team. if sports leagues wait for an 'all-clear' we may not get any sports for more than 2 years.

the young generation was already turning away from sports to begin with. give them a 2 year absence and it might be next to impossible to start up again. let's not forget that these leagues only exist with tremendous amounts of goverment hand outs and tax breaks. governments are going to be in debt up to their eyeballs when this is over. if sports is out of the public's eye by a year or two from now... and then the leagues try to get a bunch of cozy subsidies from the government... there simply might be no appetite from the population to rubberstamp it.

theres also the question of legacy for a lot of the games brightest stars. we judge players in history by their career numbers. when an Ovechkin suddenly gets close to a gretzky goal record... it matters. chasing records focuses attention of people onto a sport and help the sport remain relevant.

no matter what format the league attempts to adopt... MOST PEOPLE WILL BITCH... so a priority cant be to address people's complaints. there has to be an eye towards practicality.

eliminating travel concerns by using 1 home base to play games does make sense.
giving teams a chance to warm up and get in game shape before facing elimination does make sense

the other details can be voted on by the decesion makers whatever they like/dont like. at the end of the day the cup champ will still be someone that ran a gambit. and honestly the ONLY thing any of us care about is who was the champ.

regular season NEVER matters. early playoff matchups NEVER matter. not a single one of us says boston did great in 2010 because we got to the second round... or 2012 was amazing because we won the president trophy.

play the playoffs... its best for the players. hopefully hrr doesnt get murdered in the next couple years as our society might have a huge fear of gathering in the immediate wake of this panic scare. chances are players will end up with 10-20-40-50% loss of expected pay over the next couple years when everything shakes out. their best hope of limiting these loses is to get this season finished and keep hockey in the mind of its loyal fans.

who knows... by playing at a time everyone is desperate for entertainment, they might even attract a few new fans?

and as for the owners... they do rely greatly on goverment hand outs. by playing now they are doing a 'public service.' the world is starved for entertainment. eventually the owners are going to need to be able to convince goverments that they deserve continued government assistance. suck it up and get these playoffs played now.

it wont be perfect for anyone... and lots of people will want to complain... but just do the best we can

 

[Bruinaura]

Report now is the NHL considering moving straight through to the playoffs, 16 teams and all games would be played in the arena of the team that has home ice advantage, meaning the Bruins would not play a single road game throughout.

Too bad they couldn't have fixed the ice plant during this shutdown

 

[BruinsNetwork]

So the two best teams in the division get punished by having to battle it out with each other in R1? Why?

 

[talkinaway]

It's been reported many times, but TV rights have already been paid to the league (NBC and Rogers). If there are no playoffs, the league has to either pay them back or give the networks a credit towards next season.

By "paying", I perhaps should have been more precise. If NBC gets playoff games, then the NHL doesn't have to refund the money. If there are no playoff games, the NHL has to "pay" NHL their money back. So, from a holistic POV, NBC gets cash if there are no playoff games, and doesn't get cash if there are playoff games - so they essentially "pay" (or, rather, they already have paid) for the games.

But I do wonder how the extra round would change the negotiations between the NHL and NBC. You decrease the first round or two to 5 games, so the NHL owes NBC because they're not producing as many games. But now you have 2 or 3 extra games per division plus the "play-in" games, so you negotiate it so it's a wash. And, of course, the captive audience will be rushing back to watch it. I won't be going out to a bar at 7 PM (6 PM Central!), so I may as well watch whatever product the NHL is putting out, and the sponsors would no doubt appreciate that.

 

[KingKrug47]

Seems like its a chance for a team to goon it up and weaken another team.

 

[KnightofBoston]

Why Bruce Cassidy thinks this year's Stanley Cup won't be cheapened at all

Thanks Fenway

What’s your honest to god read of when it’ll start back up? I feel like June and even July will be too soon

 

[Fenway]

Thanks Fenway

What’s your honest to god read of when it’ll start back up? I feel like June and even July will be too soon

Gut feeling is they will start July 1 for Canada Day

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Report now is the NHL considering moving straight through to the playoffs, 16 teams and all games would be played in the arena of the team that has home ice advantage, meaning the Bruins would not play a single road game throughout.

Any talk about the cap ramifications of the lockdown? All going to escrow or is there chatter about dropping the cap ceiling/floor?

 

[Super Cake]

Just imagine a Buffalo vs. Anaheim cup final? Yuck.

To think that it has a even a chance of happening makes this format bullshit.

 

[RHR37]

I started a thread a while back asking if they should just name the Bruins the champs and move on.

The opinion was no you earn the cup.

I get that 100% and fully agree with it.

However: this year is different

No matter who wins this year it will always be viewed as tainted. I think it's completely wrong to ignore the first 70 games of the regular season and now say "basically"everyone gets in and Boston has to earn the #1 seed. How did they not already do that?? Also on top of that Boston won't even get to play in Boston lol.

Boston has dominated the season since game 1 and has not looked back and now you are asking players to basically just have 4 months off and get into playoff mode. Anyone who has played any type of sport knows this is not the same at all.

I want hockey back so bad but I don't see anyway the winner of this year does not have an asterisk.

May as well be an asterisk beside a team that dominated 70 games of the season.

I just picture a parade down Yonge Street on August and it makes me sick.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

No system is going to be perfect. And who knows what we’re dealing with next fall/winter? Certainly don’t see things being back to normal. For the sake of the leagues financial health and also fans who want to see hockey, I can understand why they’re trying to make something work. However strange it is.

 

[JOKER 192]

Does the loser of the best of 3 get knocked out or just down? Because out would be bullshit

True, but either way it's still BS.

 

[JOKER 192]

Call it a season, See the NHL next year on time.

Really dont see the point in all of this.

Na, as fans we followed our teams for what then? Salvage what you can, any way you can. I need to see some competitive , live hockey.

 

[easton117]

Report now is the NHL considering moving straight through to the playoffs, 16 teams and all games would be played in the arena of the team that has home ice advantage, meaning the Bruins would not play a single road game throughout.

Man, as a Bruins fan that’s great.

what a kick in the nuts for the away teams though

 

[JOKER 192]

2020 sucks.

That is all.

This has been the a bad year for me personally and that was before the coronavirus so imagine now.

 

[JOKER 192]

Still sounds like a great way to have Marchand, Krug, Pastrnak, etc eliminated from the actual playoffs. What line was mainly on the ice when TB gooned it up those last two games?




If the NHL doesn't try too hard for once and follows the standard format it would seem legitimate to me. If they tweak it to add teams then it is meaningless, absolutely.

I really see no need to deviate from what they have done in the past. Changing it would make it less legit. There are going to be some changes needed but let's not revamp the whole thing, let's keep changes to a minimum and only where they are really needed.

 

[Bruinaura]

This has been the a bad year for me personally and that was before the coronavirus so imagine now.

Sorry

*passes cookies* it's not much but it's all I've got

 

[Tbaybruin]

My money is on a regular playoff format. Reg season is done. Bruins top seed. Our vets are rested and they know now is the time for the cup. Bruins will win the cup. Krugs overtime goal in game 5 will give us the cup similar to Orr 50 years ago.

 

[KnightofBoston]

Regardless of the format, the Stanley Cup this year will feel like a World Cup win.

Blech.

How? As I understand it there would still be 4 rounds and 16 wins for the ultimate prize?


Didn’t we make it to 70 games? I personally think 82 is excessive to begin with. Don’t get the logic at all that the championship would be cheapened. If this plan goes forward and the bruins win the cup I’ll be just as happy as I would any year they won it.

And maybe it’s just me but the idea of watching the playoffs from July/August through September is really cool sounding to me.

Couldn’t care less if the next season doesn’t start until December to give the players time off. In the old days hockey did start in the winter, it’ll be a cool throw back and a nice memory to look back on