Will having a bye in the first round be a disadvantage?

[BrindamoursNose]

Nope -- it's likely a total advantage. No team really cares what the seeding will be.

There's no real home ice advantage most likely -- so seeding will barely matter if the games are happening simultaneously.

 

[StumpyTown]

I think the bye isn't really valid. It's not like these teams will be sitting around doing nothing. They'll get some games in to get timing and game-speed up to where it needs to be without the stress of the must-win situation of the play-in teams. Come the first round of the "real" playoffs they'll be primed and ready.

 

[KingPuckChoo]

Nope -- it's likely a total advantage. No team really cares what the seeding will be.

There's no real home ice advantage most likely -- so seeding will barely matter if the games are happening simultaneously.

?

the ones without the byes are playing an extra round...
the ones with the byes will face the teams that have played a full round prior
if you think rust doesn't factor in sports it means that you both 1) never played a sport in your life and 2) never believed the confessions from players that state they are rusty because they haven't played a certain amount of games

 

[KingPuckChoo]

I think the bye isn't really valid. It's not like these teams will be sitting around doing nothing. They'll get some games in to get timing and game-speed up to where it needs to be without the stress of the must-win situation of the play-in teams. Come the first round of the "real" playoffs they'll be primed and ready.

so then why are teams rusty after their seasonal byes? they've all played some 40 games before and then when it's their turn to go through a bye, they have issues facing those teams are in a full momentum swing

or how about those teams that win games in 4 during the playoffs, vs a team that went to full game 7... have you noticed that those teams that sweep in 4 tend to have a hard time winning game 1 of the next series?

so all this talk about rust has been a myth for decades? and they've been debunked by a few fans on hfboards without providing any statistical evidence?

that's fantastic

 

[KingPuckChoo]

yall cray

 

[BrindamoursNose]

?

the ones without the byes are playing an extra round...
the ones with the byes will face the teams that have played a full round prior
if you think rust doesn't factor in sports it means that you both 1) never played a sport in your life and 2) never believed the confessions from players that state they are rusty because they haven't played a certain amount of games

No they're not. There are no byes.

The top 4 seed teams will play each other Round 1 (but none will be eliminated - automatically advancing)

The other teams are playing an elimination round.

 

[KingPuckChoo]

No they're not. There are no byes.

The top 4 seed teams will play each other Round 1 (but none will be eliminated - automatically advancing)

The other teams are playing an elimination round.

damn so they play each other a full round before playing each other a full round? that's even more Pejorative Slured than i initially thought

 

[StreetHawk]

damn so they play each other a full round before playing each other a full round? that's even more Pejorative Slured than i initially thought

They are basically playing exhibition games. But, the NHL has also said that before the teams participate in the Play In round, they will get about 2 exhibition games before they get right into it.

On one hand the top teams get to just break their guys back into the groove of things without it being a do or die situation. That would have been a bigger advantage had the Play In teams had to go straight from camp/scrimmages into their Play in round vs get a couple of exhibition games under their belt before they did that.

 

[Stephen]

It will be an advantage for some and a disadvantage for others.

 

[LokiDog]

I’m not sure how late to the party you have to be to still be confused about the format here.

Teams that are “in” will play a largely meaningless round robin tournament while the “play in” round is taking place. It will be used to determine seeding, but considering what a crapshoot this is, with teams who weren’t even in possibly being in and no one having played in months, plus no home ice advantage, I would imagine seeding amounts to diddly in the grand scheme of things.

My only thought on the matter is why would a Bergeron or Pastrnak or Ovechkin risk injury in the round robin games by treating them as anything other than preseason? Yeah you wanna get up to game speed, but not at the risk of missing the actual playoffs. Can’t imagine these games will have much intensity with virtually nothing on the line. The play in round, on the other hand is essentially round one of the playoffs for these teams so they’ll be playing for their post season life and their will be plenty of intensity. I would not be surprised to see none of the top seeded teams make it to the conference finals because they’re going to be playing meaningless preseason style hockey before running into a team that not only played a full round of playoff hockey but now has the hype and momentum of winning a meaningful series and advancing. I’m anticipating this will be the year of the wild cards.

 

[Canada4Gold]

Yes and no. Not playing elimination games might hurt those teams odds of winning the round of 16 slightly. However not playing elimination games means they have a 100% chance of being in that round, which far outweighs the disadvantage IMO.

100% chance of being in that round with a 60% chance of advancing is better than an 80% chance of being in that round with a 65% chance of advancing if they make that round. 1 is a 60% chance at the round of 8, the other is 52%.

 

[KingPuckChoo]

I’m not sure how late to the party you have to be to still be confused about the format here.

bro i just came out of my bunker from the Y2K scare, i'm glad everyone's alive

what's this covid thing?

 

[LokiDog]

bro i just came out of my bunker from the Y2K scare, i'm glad everyone's alive

what's this covid thing?

“I’m fragile”.

 

[Mr Positive]

if the rust factor is real, being a bye team will be a bit of a disadvantage in the first round, but an advantage in every round after.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

if the rust factor is real, being a bye team will be a bit of a disadvantage in the first round, but an advantage in every round after.

Except there is no bye. The top 4 teamss are still playing round robin against other top 3 teams for seeding while the others are playing their series so the top teams wont be rusting as they are actually playing games at same time.

 

[Mr Positive]

Except there is no bye. The top 4 teamss are still playing round robin against other top 3 teams for seeding while the others are playing their series so the top teams wont be rusting as they are actually playing games at same time.

it is a bye in that there is no danger of them missing the playoffs.

But yes, you are right in that it is a bye with some stakes. The issue is that perhaps those seeding games will not take as much rust off since they are playing potentially fewer games, and also games of much lesser consequence.

I wonder though. The bye teams might take that mini-season more seriously than people think. Being a higher seed will be a big benefit in this tournament, imo

 

[Super Cake]

bro i just came out of my bunker from the Y2K scare, i'm glad everyone's alive

what's this covid thing?

It is a type of virus that gives you the heebie-jeebies

 

[MessierII]

I could be wrong, but there isn't really a bye. There's games to be played for seeding.

Still the intensity won’t be comparable. They will play no elimination games.