Series Talk: Playoff Brackets

[Notsince67]

Bob McKenzie said on the radio, the NHL has zero interest in changing the playoff format, he said it's not even on their radar.

They are even motivated to fix offside.

 

[22Brad Park]

When a team like Washington or the Islanders can get 2nd over all seed with less points and secure home ice cause of that later say vs Bos or Tor then the setup is JUST WRONG.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

They also into tobacco, big time.

That is why I said dirty. The sh*t they spit out constantly is disgusting. and I think i am fairly lax on that kinda stuff.

 

[Mess]

Either do 1 vs 8 or get rid of the WC and just make the first 2 rounds purely divisional with no crossover BS.

The flaw with that is it guarantees 4 teams from each div make in into the playoffs and they might not be the teams with the highest points.

A team that misses the playoffs could have more points than a team that makes it in. That is the main reason the WC was created.

 

[Buds17]

It becomes really difficult to find that playoff format that makes perfect sense. Can't abandon East and West as that would cause travel issues. The Bruins and Leafs would currently win the Metropolitan Division, and the Sharks would currently win the Central Division. Can't imagine the league would want to forgo divisions either though.

That's partly the appeal of a playoff format - the idea that it's a clean slate, and also how the regular season played out may not carry over into the "second season".

 

[MyBudJT]

The flaw with that is it guarantees 4 teams from each div make in into the playoffs and they might not be the teams with the highest points.

A team that misses the playoffs could have more points than a team that makes it in. That is the main reason the WC was created.

But why would they care about that? They claim that they want to create more divisional rivalries.

 

[tmlms13]

It means nothing to Carolina if they play Isles, Washington or Leafs. People do not even know they are playing there the day of a playoff game. Most do not even know they have a freakin team or arena. Some do not even know what hockey is.

In mid April when NCAA basketball is done they might pay attention but they're usually out of the playoffs by then.

 

[Mess]

But why would they care about that? They claim that they want to create more divisional rivalries.

Some Owners complained because they lost millions in extra playoff revenue when teams with less points made it in and their team with more points missed out.

Bettman represents the owners.

 

[-DeMo-]

That's my thing. Knock it off with the Wildcard stuff.

I get one division has 1 less team, but who gives a crap. That is going to be balanced out with Seattle.

I don't care about playing Boston, that's not my issue. It's that Boston and Toronto, despite having better seasons, will get a harder match-up in each other, than Montreal will. It doesn't make sense.

Change the scheduling to where you play divisional teams more (don't need to play Western teams twice every season) and then the top 4 teams in the division make it.

Simple, Simple, Simple.

I really like Divisional Playoff concept. I like it more than Conference seeding. But the way the NHL does it is so ****ed up

they already play more games vs there division then anyone else. you also can't play the west only once, they did that back after the lockout and teams complained they only got to see Crosby/Ovie once every 2 years. there never going to go back to that, the only real thing you could go is play the Metro only twice and then once more vs your division but that makes it an 81 game schedule not 82. or could be 83 once Seattle joins.

the reason people don't like it is because they looking league wide at points and believe they're an accurate representation of the quality of the teams, but don't realize that just because a team has more points it means there the better team, when teams in other division and especially conference have extremely different schedules, like last year we played 18 games vs the bottom 5 teams and 4 times vs the top 2 in points, while Minnesota who finished 4 points behind us played the bottom 5 teams only 11 times and played the top 2 teams 9 times. that will have an affect on your points. I don't think alot of people realize this. the other teams in our division are the only teams who play a comparable schedule so we should play them in the playoffs imo. the divisional format is excellent.

lastly anyone who thinks it looks bad on the NHL to have two excellent teams playing in the first round I think has it wrong. the NHL probably enjoys it because it gives them a marquis match up in Round 1 which they might not always have.

Edit: btw I would leave the cross over but only cross over when 5th place is better then the other 4th. if the wildcard teams are 1 from each division they should stay in there division regardless of standing.

 

[MyBudJT]

Some Owners complained because they lost millions in extra playoff revenue when teams with less points made it in and their team with more points missed out.

Bettman represents the owners.

Well, I'm sure there are some owners that aren't happy they aren't getting home ice advantage when they should...

 

[Mess]

Well, I'm sure there are some owners that aren't happy they aren't getting home ice advantage when they should...

That's a secondary concern and in most cases the better team has home ice advantage.

With the present system home is guaranteed to the team with the most points.

Keep in mind there is an uneven schedule with a team playing their own Div 4 X and other Div only 3. So since the regular season schedule favours div rivalries so do the playoffs.

 

[nsleaf]

Are these Regional rivalries even relevant anymore? A fair league should seed fairly based on points accumulated during the season, otherwise the importance of the regular season is diminished.

 

[Loosie]

This isn't new though. In the 80s they had divisional playoffs as well. in 1985 the Smythe division had the top 3 teams of the Campbell Conference. Jets and Flames were 2 and 3 in the divisio (and conference) and faced each other in the first round, they were separated by 2 points. Meanwhile in the Norris division the 2nd place team was the 5th team in the conference (with 83 points) and played the Wings who would have not been in playoff spot in the Smythe division.

 

[Mess]

Are these Regional rivalries even relevant anymore? A fair league should seed fairly based on points accumulated during the season, otherwise the importance of the regular season is diminished.

Uneven schedule ..

Our Leafs for example play the Metro 4 times and other Div only 3... The 2 worst teams in the NHL in points Ottawa #31 and Detroit #30 and Leafs and the rest of the Div get to play them an extra game each..

So that means the top of the Metro has easier QofC to earn points, so they do not extend that advantage outside the Div for playoff matchups.

 

[Nineteen67]

That is why I said dirty. The sh*t they spit out constantly is disgusting. and I think i am fairly lax on that kinda stuff.

Raleigh and NC in general isn’t great and far too much basketball and football, but as a place to live I’d give it the nod over anywhere southern Ontario

 

[LeafalCrusader]

The flaw with that is it guarantees 4 teams from each div make in into the playoffs and they might not be the teams with the highest points.

A team that misses the playoffs could have more points than a team that makes it in. That is the main reason the WC was created.

It looks like the 9th place team in the east will have more points than the WC winners in the west. We could do 1 vs 16 but the travel wouldn't work. Teams in different conferences/divisions have different schedules. If you want to do divisional playoff games have the teams be actual divisional rivals.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Raleigh and NC in general isn’t great and far too much basketball and football, but as a place to live I’d give it the nod over anywhere southern Ontario

Canada>>>>USA.

 

[nsleaf]

Raleigh and NC in general isn’t great and far too much basketball and football, but as a place to live I’d give it the nod over anywhere southern Ontario

I'm sure they both have livable areas, depends on what you prefer.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Edit: btw I would leave the cross over but only cross over when 5th place is better then the other 4th. if the wildcard teams are 1 from each division they should stay in there division regardless of standing.

I like this as a tweak to the existing, or if 1 from each division then never cross-over,regardless of points.

 

[Nineteen67]

Canada>>>>USA.

Lived in both. I disagree.

 

[MyBudJT]

That's a secondary concern and in most cases the better team has home ice advantage.

With the present system home is guaranteed to the team with the most points.

Keep in mind there is an uneven schedule with a team playing their own Div 4 X and other Div only 3. So since the regular season schedule favours div rivalries so do the playoffs.

Its no different than divisional concept, really.

 

[The CyNick]

Funny when people ignorantly talk about 1-8 format when that never existed. There has always been preferential seeding for winning a division. So every system is flawed.

Only way you can have a truly fair system is by playing each team twice and having a 1-16 format for the whole league.

Right now the East has more depth than the West, so all the East teams could complain about unfavorable seeding.

As has been pointed out if you had two or even three divisions the Leafs would be a number 3 or 4 seed. So people should try to get their facts straight before complaining.

Plus there's nothing worse than complaining about a league rule because it negatively impacts your team. The setup was designed to fuel rivalries. The Leafs are looking like they will okay a heated rival to years in a row. That's a good thing.

 

[ottomaddox]

Raleigh and NC in general isn’t great and far too much basketball and football, but as a place to live I’d give it the nod over anywhere southern Ontario

Based on what?

 

[Grapes1]

Bettman is doing a great job. He works for the owners and they are very happy.

NHL isn’t changing the format ( and they shouldn’t). Time for the kids to move onto another topic.

Everyone take note?

If you have a different opinion you are a kid and you should move on

 

[Bomber0104]

It's a joke.

Par for the course for the NHL though, who's using every possible trick in the bag to get Mickey Mouse teams into a Cup series.

Salary cap, loser points, shootouts, gerrymandered playoff seedings...

Notice a pattern here?