New Playoff Format Proposal

[HuGo Burner Acc]

So I was just having fun the other day and thought up some alternatives to the current playoff format. Firstly, I don't think the NHL goes back to the 1-8 format. Just for some pretext, I would get rid of the divisional barriers in the standings. So here's my crazy proposal. It's kind of like a hybrid of the NBA and NFL format:

Wildcard Round

Teams placed 1-4 get a by. Teams 5-10 matchup and have a 3 game series. This would be the equivalency of the NBA wildcard tournament but an extended version of it.

Round 1

The 1st place team in each conference gets a by. Teams 2-7 matchup and have a normal 7 game series

Rounds 2-4 stay the same format.


One thing Sidney Crosby said in his recent infamous interview was that teams don't really drive as hard for seeding near the end of the year as it doesn't mean as much to get those extra points as matchups are pretty much set. The first round by for the 1st place team mirrors the NFL. It gives a reward to the best teams in each conference. Similarly the 1-4 placed teams getting a by in the wildcard Round is another example of rewarding certain teams for performance. I think this will address Crosby's issue. This system would bring back and exaggerate a merit based seeding format. Offers a fun wildcard week where more teams get to participate for a chance at making the playoffs. And I believe this format would offer more compelling and fair matchups in the playoffs/wildcard

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[CTHabsfan]

We already have an 82-game season with all teams getting a chance tp make the playoffs, so I'm really not interested in giving a team that's not good enough to be a top-8 team an additional shot to make the playoffs. I don't like the idea of the best team sitting around for a couple of weeks without playing, either. Seems like a perfect opportunity for a good team to lose to a lesser team because they are rusty.

 

[IamNotADancer]

Might as well just give out the Stanley Cup to the President's Cup winner and just be done with those pesky playoffs if you wanna water it down even more.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

f*** no. None of this gimmicky bullshit. 16 teams make the playoffs. Get rid of the wildcard and any of that other garbage. Seed each conference 1-8.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

IMHO, the only change to the playoff format is that it needs to be completely finished by June 1, so that (1) it doesn't compete head-to-head with the NBA finals and (2) most viewers haven't headed off to enjoy the summer.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

IMHO, the only change to the playoff format is that it needs to be completely finished by June 1, so that (1) it doesn't compete head-to-head with the NBA finals and (2) most viewers haven't headed off to enjoy the summer.

Middle of June is still fine IMO.

Which is normally when the playoffs end. Covid has caused seasons to start later and subsequently finish later the last couple of years but they're on track to be finished by the middle of June again this year and then everything should get back to normal.

But it also wouldn't hurt anything if they started the regular season October 1st instead of ~October 10th. And then finished Playoffs by ~June 5th instead of the 15th.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

Middle of June is still fine IMO.

Which is normally when the playoffs end. Covid has caused seasons to start later and subsequently finish later the last couple of years but they're on track to be finished by the middle of June again this year and then everything should get back to normal.

But it also wouldn't hurt anything if they started the regular season October 1st instead of ~October 10th. And then finished Playoffs by ~June 5th instead of the 15th.

June 5 wouldn't be so bad. Don't know about Canada, but in the U.S. most kids are out of school by the Memorial Day holiday around June 1, and so everybody starts taking vacations or heading to the lake on weekends, etc.

Wouldn't hurt my feelings if they cut down the regular season by 10 games, although I understand that the players want the extra bucks.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

June 5 wouldn't be so bad. Don't know about Canada, but in the U.S. most kids are out of school by the Memorial Day holiday around June 1, and so everybody starts taking vacations or heading to the lake on weekends, etc.

Wouldn't hurt my feelings if they cut down the regular season by 10 games, although I understand that the players want the extra bucks.

I think most of Canada usually doesn't start summer until the very end of June. I know when I was a kid it was usually like the ~25th of June. My sister is a teacher now and her summer starts June 28th this year.

The last two seasons before covid hit, the Cup finals ended on June 12th(2019) and June 7th(2018). With each regular season starting October 3rd/4th as well. IMO that timeline is fine. Maybe you bump the start of the season up a few days to September 30th/October 1st.


Personally I think the regular season length is fine, there's so much variance inside of the NHL that you need a longer season to account for that IMO. It also wouldn't be just the players that want the extra bucks. 72 games would mean 5 less home games for each team, for some owners that's easily $10M of lost revenue. If anything owners across the league are probably priming for more games.

 

[boredmale]

On change I might make is get rid of conferences and once we get to the Semi finals we seat the top four teams 1-4.

I guess this means no wild card so in that regard I would make it so top 3 teams make it in the division, while teams 4 play 5 in a 2 game greater goal differential wins

 

[OscarsCards]

Proposal to whom? Y'all can do whatever in your fantasy leagues.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

June 5 wouldn't be so bad. Don't know about Canada, but in the U.S. most kids are out of school by the Memorial Day holiday around June 1, and so everybody starts taking vacations or heading to the lake on weekends, etc.

Wouldn't hurt my feelings if they cut down the regular season by 10 games, although I understand that the players want the extra bucks.

Canada, at least Ontario and Quebec are done by mid-late June. They get July and August off from school. I believe Quebec goes back last week of August. I know most things were just slightly different.

 

[Oddbob]

Will always and forever hate the idea of byes in any playoff situation. The good teams don't even want byes either, as it messes up their rythym to have too many days off and then playing meaningful games. Also hate the need for a "wildcard round". A 1-8 in both conference is how it should be, not seeded based on division winners but by points. There isn't a need for more than 16 teams to make the playoffs. People always mention how it was 16 out of 21 teams, but no more added since then now that we have 32 teams. But they forget to remember back in that format you also had terrible (major losing records) teams make the playoffs with only occasional major upsets. Most of the time those lower teams got smoked in the 1st round because the teams were a lot worse than those ahead of them.

 

[Matty Sundin]

I personally wouldn’t hate a 1vs16 for the entire league and just reseed every round but I know that wouldn’t be popular.

 

[dortt]

June 5 wouldn't be so bad. Don't know about Canada, but in the U.S. most kids are out of school by the Memorial Day holiday around June 1, and so everybody starts taking vacations or heading to the lake on weekends, etc.

Wouldn't hurt my feelings if they cut down the regular season by 10 games, although I understand that the players want the extra bucks.

Not in the northern parts where hockey is big. Kids there get out of school in mid to late June and do not go back until after Labor Day

 

[dirtydanglez]

please no.

 

[SensHulk]

Bumping this again. I would tweak the playoff format just slightly to expand by 2 teams where it’s a 2 game play-in series between 7/10 and 8/9 teams.

2-game series for 7 vs 10, 8 vs 9 seeds: both games scheduled in higher seed team’s arena (back to back nights for logistics). Higher seed just needs to win once, lower seed needs to win both games to advance so positioning is even more important. Another option could be playing in a neutral site.

Winners go onto face 1 and 2 seeds, who have an advantage of playing a lower seed that has had even less time to rest up

 

[ovikovy817]

KHL changed the PO format this year.
Seems not bad. Why not try it in the NHL.

1st round :
Classic 1 to 8 (in the conference)

2nd round : (cross conference)

Best team left from the West VS lowest team left from the East
2nd best team left from the East VS 3rd best team left from the West

The two series winners advances to the 3rd round playing each other.


And on the other side of the bracket

Best team left from the East VS lowest team left from the West
2nd best team left from the West VS 3rd best team left from the East

The two series winners advances to the 3rd round playing each other.

 

[SensHulk]

NHL seems to be the only league out of the big 4 to not expand their playoff format to include more teams…not surprising that they’re never ahead of the curve

 

[Suntouchable13]

NHL seems to be the only league out of the big 4 to not expand their playoff format to include more teams…not surprising that they’re never ahead of the curve

Why would you wanna include more teams? 16 is not enough? LOL. What a joke. And the NBA didn't really include more teams in the playoffs. the Play-in garbage is not the playoffs. Why do we need to include more garbage to our league? Why do you want to include 9th and 10th seeds in the playoffs? If you don't make the top 8, better luck next year. I don't know why it has to be expanded.

 

[Mickey Marner]

In 2021-22, 7th vs 10th in the east would have been the 103 pts Penguins vs the 81 pts Blue Jackets....

 

[SensHulk]

Why would you wanna include more teams? 16 is not enough? LOL. What a joke. And the NBA didn't really include more teams in the playoffs. the Play-in garbage is not the playoffs. Why do we need to include more garbage to our league? Why do you want to include 9th and 10th seeds in the playoffs? If you don't make the top 8, better luck next year. I don't know why it has to be expanded.

Ah yes overly defensive fan not willing to see why other leagues are successful and the nhl isn’t…how do you do?

Besides the obvious, it would generate more revenue across the league making regular season games more important down the stretch, which means more attendance for a team that is still relying on gate revenue; also boosts more prime time games for future television contracts

 

[coolboarder]

We already have an 82-game season with all teams getting a chance tp make the playoffs, so I'm really not interested in giving a team that's not good enough to be a top-8 team an additional shot to make the playoffs. I don't like the idea of the best team sitting around for a couple of weeks without playing, either. Seems like a perfect opportunity for a good team to lose to a lesser team because they are rusty.

I wouldn't mind top team from East and top team from the West having a best of 3 games to stay sharp with extra million dollars prize money. The winner of the series will get 1-0 lead in Stanley Cup Final if they meet again. Best of 9 in the Cup Final. Meaning 8 games in total. That would be a better incentivize the teams to play hard for best of 3 then give them 4 or 5 days off between series. Light schedule to keep them sharp game shape. If they don't meet again, the Final series will be a normal best of 7 series. Again, the winner of the series get huge pay-day from the league.

 

[Roo Returns]

I personally wouldn’t hate a 1vs16 for the entire league and just reseed every round but I know that wouldn’t be popular.

That's how they did it in the late 70s-early 80s and there were some bonkers matchups.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

No need to change anything for the teams that make it, but the teams that don't should be allowed to participate in a loser's bracket tournament leading to the award of the Leah Hextall Cup.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

That's how they did it in the late 70s-early 80s and there were some bonkers matchups.

They did it that way because it was a perfectly balanced schedule.

No perfectly balanced schedule? No 1-16 overall.