New format makes for some boring races

[FirewagonChange]

Please go back to the old divisional and conference format. The playoff races are a snooze fest.

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[Marc the Habs Fan]

Is this a joke?

The Avs-Wild race and the Wings-Flyers race are going to be fun to track.

You also have battles for home ice advantage in every division right now, with 3 battles for the division crown.

 

[Buck Aki Berg]

Under the current set up, you have Philadelphia and Detroit tied for the last playoff spot in the East, and Colorado one point behind for the final playoff spot in the west. Everyone trailing Philadelphia and Colorado is essentially out of the running.

Using the previous setup, you have Philadelphia and Detroit tied for the last playoff spot in the East, and Colorado one point behind for the final playoff spot in the west. Everyone trailing Philadelphia and Colorado is essentially out of the running.

It's the exact same "snoozefest" you're complaining about now.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Under the current set up, you have Philadelphia and Detroit tied for the last playoff spot in the East, and Colorado one point behind for the final playoff spot in the west. Everyone trailing Philadelphia and Colorado is essentially out of the running.

Using the previous setup, you have Philadelphia and Detroit tied for the last playoff spot in the East, and Colorado one point behind for the final playoff spot in the west. Everyone trailing Philadelphia and Colorado is essentially out of the running.

It's the exact same "snoozefest" you're complaining about now.

Having said that, I still don't like that they changed the format. What was wrong with the previous format? It was a really good format that did not need fixing. Teams seeded 1 through 8 in the conference, none of this wild card BS.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Having said that, I still don't like that they changed the format. What was wrong with the previous format? It was a really good format that did not need fixing. Teams seeded 1 through 8 in the conference, none of this wild card BS.

The western conference spans a bunch of time zones. That was an issue in the previous format. Having said that, the East probably doesn't need the wild card concept. The East could easily stay at, or return to, 1-8. With the wild card, and with a Central team having gone over to the Pacific bracket all 3 years, there's probably not a huge need to keep the wild card there either, although with the way it is 4 of the Central teams get to stay in their time zone(unless Colorado makes it) for the 1st and 2nd rounds.

It's not so much that the races are boring, as there's plenty going on in both conferences and in each division, but you just don't like the format, which is fine to not like.

 

[Flames Fanatic]

Last year was nuts, I'm happy with the current format.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Please go back to the old divisional and conference format. The playoff races are a snooze fest.

Even if it were true that the playoff race is a snooze fest, which it isn't, I'd gladly take a snooze fest playoff race to get a fairly consistent first round that will involve real rivalries compared to years past where you were lucky to get one in the first round.

Also, the old divisional format almost always included at least one division winner that was barely worthy of being a playoff team as a 3 seed. People were complaining then about the format and will always find something to complain about when it comes to alignment and the playoff format.

 

[FirewagonChange]

Under the current set up, you have Philadelphia and Detroit tied for the last playoff spot in the East, and Colorado one point behind for the final playoff spot in the west. Everyone trailing Philadelphia and Colorado is essentially out of the running.

Using the previous setup, you have Philadelphia and Detroit tied for the last playoff spot in the East, and Colorado one point behind for the final playoff spot in the west. Everyone trailing Philadelphia and Colorado is essentially out of the running.

It's the exact same "snoozefest" you're complaining about now.

If the divisions were setup like old then the scheduling would be different and the standings wouldn't be the same.

 

[aufheben]

Last year was nuts, I'm happy with the current format.

I've really enjoyed it since the change, a lot of great matchups. Never understood all the griping.

 

[Yarbles02]

Maybe the races are not as intense as before. However, I love the new format for the playoff matchups. When the playoffs hit, nobody will care about the race.

 

[zeropotentate]

It is interesting that the more things change the more things stay the same. Even though the format changed to accommodate time zone irregularities, and Winnipeg's existence.

That being said, if it was under the old format playoffs would look like (as of March 24th standings)
Washington -109
NY Rangers -92
Boston -86
Tampa Bay -89
Florida -89
Pittsburgh -88
NY Islanders -87
Philadelphia -82

People would complain at how Boston at 86 points is 3rd place instead of 7th.
West would be
Dallas -97
St. Louis -95
Minnesota -81
LA -93
Chicago -91
Anaheim -89
San Jose -88
Nashville -87
Detroit (9th) -83

People would definitely be up in arms at how Minnesota is 3rd place when they're 9th in points (because of how awful the North Western teams are doing this year) and how Detroit would be missing the playoffs despite being 8th in the conference in points.

The old system was not necessarily better, and no system is perfect but the current one fixed some issues, but created new ones that will be addressed eventually.

 

[Tawnos]

We're 10 games out and only 1 potential playoff team has their position in the standings in the bag. I have no idea in what way this is not an exciting stretch run.

Division leads are up for grabs in 3 of 4 divisions. Home ice in the first round is up for grabs in all 4 divisions.

 

[serp]

The format has nothing to do with so many teams beeing bad this year.

Only thing that would really change is due to North West Division beeing dreadful it would make for a really weak 3rd Seed in the West.

Also the Stars would play still play all those Pacific teams in their damn time zone all the time and seriously **** that.

 

[Buck Aki Berg]

Having said that, I still don't like that they changed the format. What was wrong with the previous format? It was a really good format that did not need fixing. Teams seeded 1 through 8 in the conference, none of this wild card BS.

- Dallas and LA in the same division; Minnesota and Vancouver in the same division
- Teams having the same likelyhood of playing some team in the opposite division as playing a genuine rival. Most people would rather see Chicago play Nashville or St. Louis, not Calgary or Phoenix.
- Early-round matchups starting at wonky hours because of time zones - every road game the Ducks played in the 2003 playoffs was two or three hours ahead, same with all but two of their games in 2007. Every road playoff game that Detroit played in 2007 was two or three hours behind.

....should I keep going?

 

[Rayzorexe]

For the most part, the top 8 teams in the East/West still make the playoffs regardless on how you look at it.

 

[NJDevils7]

Having said that, I still don't like that they changed the format. What was wrong with the previous format? It was a really good format that did not need fixing. Teams seeded 1 through 8 in the conference, none of this wild card BS.

I agree with you. But the NHL wants more division games to create rivalries. Also, now that there is no re-seeding, it allows people to fill out a playoff bracket. The NHL hyped that up a lot last year with the "Bracket Challenge" and I'm sure they will do the same again this year.

 

[BluesTraveller]

Having said that, I still don't like that they changed the format. What was wrong with the previous format? It was a really good format that did not need fixing. Teams seeded 1 through 8 in the conference, none of this wild card BS.

Disagree

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Happy the format went to this.

Standings would be similar with Boston jumping a few teams because it'd get to be the current 3rd seed.

Races are just as exciting as they would be

 

[AINEC*]

Is this a joke?

The Avs-Wild race and the Wings-Flyers race are going to be fun to track.

You also have battles for home ice advantage in every division right now, with 3 battles for the division crown.

I'm not sure anything Avs-Wild could ever be fun to track.

Wings-Flyers is for sure interesting though. I don't see anything wrong with the current set up.

 

[Six Assets]

Just last year we had an amazing race between the Sens, Bruins, and Pens for the last 2 WC spots.

 

[Curufinwe]

It is interesting that the more things change the more things stay the same. Even though the format changed to accommodate time zone irregularities, and Winnipeg's existence.

That being said, if it was under the old format playoffs would look like (as of March 24th standings)
Washington -109
NY Rangers -92
Boston -86
Tampa Bay -89
Florida -89
Pittsburgh -88
NY Islanders -87
Philadelphia -82

People would complain at how Boston at 86 points is 3rd place instead of 7th.
West would be
Dallas -97
St. Louis -95
Minnesota -81
LA -93
Chicago -91
Anaheim -89
San Jose -88
Nashville -87
Detroit (9th) -83

People would definitely be up in arms at how Minnesota is 3rd place when they're 9th in points (because of how awful the North Western teams are doing this year) and how Detroit would be missing the playoffs despite being 8th in the conference in points.

The old system was not necessarily better, and no system is perfect but the current one fixed some issues, but created new ones that will be addressed eventually.

The older system with the two division winners as the top seeds and re-seeding after the first round was the best format.

(1)Washington -109 v (8)Philadelphia -82
(2)Florida -89 v (7) Boston -86
(3)NY Rangers -92 v (6)NY Islanders -87
(4)Tampa Bay -89 v (5) Pittsburgh -88

(1)Dallas -97 v (8)Minnesota -81
(2)LA -93 v (7)Nashville -87
(3)St. Louis -95 v (6)San Jose -88
(4)Chicago -91 v (5)Anaheim -89

97-98 was the last time that format was used.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997–98_NHL_season

 

[HunterSThompson]

I would love if they started to stack divisional games in at the end of the season like the NFL does. Things could change in a hurry. In current scheduling the Caps play the west 5 of their last ten games. How boring.

Plus it would give teams less travel right before the postseason.

 

[CanadienShark]

Under the current set up, you have Philadelphia and Detroit tied for the last playoff spot in the East, and Colorado one point behind for the final playoff spot in the west. Everyone trailing Philadelphia and Colorado is essentially out of the running.

Using the previous setup, you have Philadelphia and Detroit tied for the last playoff spot in the East, and Colorado one point behind for the final playoff spot in the west. Everyone trailing Philadelphia and Colorado is essentially out of the running.

It's the exact same "snoozefest" you're complaining about now.

#rekt

 

[NoShowWilly]

I would love if they started to stack divisional games in at the end of the season like the NFL does. Things could change in a hurry. In current scheduling the Caps play the west 5 of their last ten games. How boring.

Plus it would give teams less travel right before the postseason.

weird. The Canucks finished their east schedule on March 1st.

they still had 20 games to play. 12/20 games were/are against their own division including the final 7.

However, we suck so no one cares.

 

[tarheelhockey]

It is interesting that the more things change the more things stay the same. Even though the format changed to accommodate time zone irregularities, and Winnipeg's existence.

That being said, if it was under the old format playoffs would look like (as of March 24th standings)
Washington -109
NY Rangers -92
Boston -86
Tampa Bay -89
Florida -89
Pittsburgh -88
NY Islanders -87
Philadelphia -82

People would complain at how Boston at 86 points is 3rd place instead of 7th.
West would be
Dallas -97
St. Louis -95
Minnesota -81
LA -93
Chicago -91
Anaheim -89
San Jose -88
Nashville -87
Detroit (9th) -83

People would definitely be up in arms at how Minnesota is 3rd place when they're 9th in points (because of how awful the North Western teams are doing this year) and how Detroit would be missing the playoffs despite being 8th in the conference in points.

The old system was not necessarily better, and no system is perfect but the current one fixed some issues, but created new ones that will be addressed eventually.

People would be absolutely losing their minds on here over that western conference scenario.

I agree that it's a boring year for races, but that's just the way the cards fell this season. Not much you can do when the game results aren't in favor of close races.