NHL, NHLPA likely to extend playoff format another season UPD: extended

[Tawnos]

They seriously wouldn't wet my whistle. The playoffs are long enough, and enough of a grind for the players as is. Adding another mini-round will only cause more injuries, and result in poorer quality hockey in the most important round of the season, the Stanley Cup finals.

I'd love a 3-game wild card play-in between the 4 and 5 in each division, but agree that the playoff season is long enough. Which is why I would reduce the divisional semi (currently round 1) to a 5 game series. That only increases the schedule by at most 1 game.

3 game divisional quarter final between 4 and 5 seeds, top 3 get a bye
5 game divisional semi final
7 game divisional final
7 game league semi final, re-seed all 4 teams regardless of conference
7 game Cup final

 

[KevFu]

I think people fail to realize when comparing point totals is that each teams point total is derived from playing their schedule; and the schedules are different because the distribution of quality teams is different.

If you compare their non-division records, Florida and New Jersey are basically the same, but Florida was 5th in their division with 86 points and NJ was 8th in their division with 72 points. Florida had three teams that were worse than them in the division, NJ had none. You can't look at teams in different divisions and say "Oh, 98 point team is better than 96 point team" when they're playing 16 to 20 different games.

Changing the format is kind of silly. It ain't broken. And the current format ensures we get one series like San Jose/Vegas, which can start late; and one like Colorado vs Calgary which can start semi late; so we can don't have four games on four networks in the first round.


Greg Wysnski (spelled wrong) posted on ESPN.com that the NHL needs to start the playoffs with a Game One marathon, like the NCAA basketball Tournament.
Like, start five game ones at 11 am, 1:30, 4, 7:30, 10 pm ET and have 14 straight hours of hockey, then the other three series the next day at 12, 3, 7.
That'd be awesome.

 

[Ted Hoffman]

Now please tell me in all seriousness that those 4 matchups wouldnt seriously wet your whistle?

I can tell you in all seriousness they wouldn't. Plus, the #1 and #2 teams would be concerned about having to sit and wait for their opponents to play 2-3 games and get their playoff legs going, then coming into that first series ready while they're trying to get up to speed after sitting about a week, and the 3-6 seeds all getting each other on the same terms [had to sit a week, but so did the other team].

 

[Ted Hoffman]

I think people fail to realize when comparing point totals is that each teams point total is derived from playing their schedule; and the schedules are different because the distribution of quality teams is different.

This. It's why every time I see someone say we should just go 1-16 overall I cringe. It happened two (2) years, when every team played all the others exactly four (4) times and so the schedule was perfectly balanced. You will never see 1-16 overall for a playoff format unless you can figure out how to get a perfectly balanced schedule, and you're not getting that unless the schedule gets cut down by about 20% or expanded by about 50% - neither of which is likely to happen.

Greg Wysnski (spelled wrong) posted on ESPN.com that the NHL needs to start the playoffs with a Game One marathon, like the NCAA basketball Tournament.
Like, start five game ones at 11 am, 1:30, 4, 7:30, 10 pm ET and have 14 straight hours of hockey, then the other three series the next day at 12, 3, 7.
That'd be awesome.

On paper, yes. In reality, ... well, all of that presumes no OT games. [They're going to happen.] Plus, someone is going to have to play before noon local time [which means the NHLPA will have to grant a waiver] and you're probably only getting that once here. That pretty much pencils in which games are the early ones; the 10pm one is guaranteed to be out of the Pacific Division, and then you're trying to decide which matchups are the marquee ones to put on at 7pm and I can see that tilt toward Eastern Conference matchups.

Not to mention, to do this you're talking about starting the playoffs on a Saturday; that means either waiting a week from the end of the regular season to kick off the playoffs, or having the regular season end on like a Tuesday which the league probably isn't thrilled about.

 

[WingsFan95]

Should just be 1-8 with top 2 seeds being the division winners. No guarantees for finishing 2nd or 3rd in your division. I think at worst you might have 6 playoff teams from 1 division in a weird year but it would probably be 4-4 or 3-5.

 

[oknazevad]

Divisional playoff brackets are the only thing that makes sense for the travel distances involved in the western conference. One can't really use the past formats as a guide, as the landscape of today, with every single playoff game nationally televised, doesn't allow for "just play whenever and read about it in the paper the next morning" anymore.

 

[KevFu]

On paper, yes. In reality, ... well, all of that presumes no OT games. [They're going to happen.] Plus, someone is going to have to play before noon local time [which means the NHLPA will have to grant a waiver] and you're probably only getting that once here. That pretty much pencils in which games are the early ones; the 10pm one is guaranteed to be out of the Pacific Division, and then you're trying to decide which matchups are the marquee ones to put on at 7pm and I can see that tilt toward Eastern Conference matchups.

Not to mention, to do this you're talking about starting the playoffs on a Saturday; that means either waiting a week from the end of the regular season to kick off the playoffs, or having the regular season end on like a Tuesday which the league probably isn't thrilled about.

Yeah, the whole thing would mean starting the playoffs on a Saturday -- although, if they followed through with playoff expansion and did 7 vs 10, 8 vs 9 in each conference in single-elimination games Wed/Thur before before the Conference Quarters (something I'd be vehemently against), then yes.

As for the OT issue, it's not really that big of a deal. First round games now air on: NBC, NBCSN, MSNBC, CNBC and USA. They could simply use one of those for the starts of games if there's an OT.

As for picking time slots, not really an issue. Everyone knows what it's going to be in terms of TV network and time slot. The Western Conference games go last when there's Eastern conference games; When there's multiple series, we all know PIT-NYI was going to be on NBCSN and WAS-CAR and CBJ-TB was going to be on MSNBC/CNBC/USA.


So this year, you'd start with PIT vs NYI first, TB vs CBJ second, DAL vs NASH third, TOR vs BOS fourth, and then SJ vs VGK fifth.
Sunday would be WAS vs CAR on NBC, STL vs WIN afternoon, COL vs CAL night.

 

[FeatherHead]

Divisional playoff brackets are the only thing that makes sense for the travel distances involved in the western conference. One can't really use the past formats as a guide, as the landscape of today, with every single playoff game nationally televised, doesn't allow for "just play whenever and read about it in the paper the next morning" anymore.

How about divisional brackets in the west, and a 1-8 setup in the east? Sorta like having the DH in the AL but not the NL in baseball. The game doesn't have to be the exact same in both conferences. Different logistics, different formats. Then we can have our cake and eat it too.

 

[MNNumbers]

How about divisional brackets in the west, and a 1-8 setup in the east? Sorta like having the DH in the AL but not the NL in baseball. The game doesn't have to be the exact same in both conferences. Different logistics, different formats. Then we can have our cake and eat it too.

I've been saying this for a long time:

The East needs...
Schedule: 2 vs West (32 after Seattle comes in); 3 vs East (45); 5 more in your division = 82 games
Playoffs: 1-8

The West needs...
Schedule: 2 vs East (32), 2 vs other division (16); 5 vs division minus 1 game = 82 games
Playoffs: 1-4 in Division, then Conf final

But it will never happen because they would be the only Continent wide Top Level league with such a structure, and it would feel somehow 'mickey mouse' to do it.