Playoffs

[kozzie]

Well
It's that time of year. The temps outside are finaaly reaching into the 70's most days. Every year this happens to me and it is happening again right on schedule.
The Hockey Season is just too long. The playoffs are too long. I loose interest by the third round almost every year. I haven't watched a final in years all the way though.

It's my opinion that the season and playoffs are just too long. I get hockey burnout once the wheather breaks.

What is the general opinion ? How many feel the season and playoffs are just to long. I was reading the other day it was the anniversary of Bobby Orr scoring the goal that sealed the cup for Boston? in May. How did everything drag out now into June?

There are too many useless regular season games. I attended a few this past year and fior the most part they were totally boring. Not much hitting, action. It just seems like most teams go thru a going through the motions phase of the season.

I feel the same way about Baseball, Basketball.

Football is the only exception. Quick. 4 months and done.

[STONE.]

It won't change.
And I think it makes a world of difference when the team you cheer for is in the mix -- when the Nucks went to the final, I never lost interest.
This year...well....

[kevinsrangers]

start by getting rid of the olympic and allstart breaks.

[Pengwin7]

I have no problem with the NHL season length.
Football actually fits the US demographic nicely... because most people have short attention spans and love to be "all-knowing" on their favourite team by only having to committ 3 hours every Sunday.

For me, I want hockey year round.
Current season rolls through mid-June, then you can spend the second half of June thinking prospect draft.
July is a full month of team changes through Free Agency - and we can speculate on how team's stack up.

One off-season month, August, where us fantasy geeks are forecasting about how Yahoo! and other sites will open up with player eligibility.
September training camps.
October, away we go.

Much better, IMO, than football and their 7 month offseason.
I mean, could you imaging having football as your only sport and talking about your team's change for SEVEN off-season months!
Yugg.

[suvojitde]

I agree with Peng. Would like hockey year round (not sure the wife would agree) but realize that is not feasible. Spend the entire off season waiting eagerly for the next season to begin!

[Fast Tony DeNiro]

I have no problem with it. It does help when a team you like is making long playoff runs, but even when the Hawks were terrible for years I'd still watch the playoffs all the way through. You find a team or even some players you like, and adopt them for a couple months. Or in the case of a rival making a Cup run, you become a Bruins fan for a couple weeks just to root against the other team.

[SixtyPercentOfTheTime]

The Hockey Season is just too long. The playoffs are too long. I loose interest by the third round almost every year.

By the beard of Zeus! This is blaspemy!

I think it makes a world of difference when the team you cheer for is in the mix

I think this is true for a lot of people. If my Habs or a team I like is still in the mix, I'll watch every single game. If it's a team I dislike (I'm not gonna Bruins any names) I will quickly lose interest.

[Axeman33]

Some of my fantasy hockey leagues die down once the "fantasy season" ends but some of them keep rockin' year round. Fantasy hockey keeps my hockey itch going 12 months of the year.

[MXHockey]

I always find by round two of the playoffs, I've started to check out unless there is an entertaining series on.

[Dutch]

Here are my thoughts:

I don't per se think the season is too long, but I definitely agree that there are WAAYYYYY too many useless games. Starting out with 10 or so preseason, 82 regular season, then 4 rounds of possible 7 games is another 28 games, so that's 120 games in 9 months. That's bizar, and its VERY easy to lose interest because 50% of the games are USELESS. If you ever been to NHL games in October vs. April its an entire different league. Games are called different, players play different, all of which is stupid in my opinion.

I wish there were only 58 games in a season. Every team should play every other team twice. Once at home, and once on the road. That way the games are more meaningful already. As well as instead of 3/4 games a week it would go down to 2 or so. Which is much more doable in terms of following and watching them. Additionally, it makes it more FAIR for teams. You get to play everyone same amount of time, while now some teams play more games against certain opponents, that may or not may be in their favor due to them being better or worse.

The playoffs are a big joke in the way that its best of 7. If there is a "need" to have a best off series, make it best of 3. It is complete and utter garbage to have a final where there are 7 games played. Makes it not very meaningful games. And then they call it the most difficult cup to win in all of sports. Um no, not really. You can shit the bed for a week, lose 3 games, and STILL win the damn cup. Thats stupid.

Ideally I would love it if it was like soccer world cup finals (or even champions league) just 1 or 2 game series. In 2 game series away goals count for something.

Most people will disagree with that, but it makes all games MUCH more intense. The fact that LA lost 3 games in a row and STILL made it to round 2 is quite ridiculous if you really think about it.

The LESS games in a season, the MORE intense the games are, and the more fun they are to watch. The only reason we have this many games is to make money. If I was the commissioner I would make the league like I presented above.

Also, because games are more meaningful in a shortened season, I believe they can raise the ticket prices easily and still sell out the games. So I don't necessarily believe they would lose a lot of money by shortening the season. Arena's can make up revenue by having more concerts or whatever.

I've thought about this a lot, and I TRULY believe it would make the league better this way.

Thoughts?

[Dikoi]

Here are my thoughts:

I don't per se think the season is too long, but I definitely agree that there are WAAYYYYY too many useless games. Starting out with 10 or so preseason, 82 regular season, then 4 rounds of possible 7 games is another 28 games, so that's 120 games in 9 months. That's bizar, and its VERY easy to lose interest because 50% of the games are USELESS. If you ever been to NHL games in October vs. April its an entire different league. Games are called different, players play different, all of which is stupid in my opinion.

I wish there were only 58 games in a season. Every team should play every other team twice. Once at home, and once on the road. That way the games are more meaningful already. As well as instead of 3/4 games a week it would go down to 2 or so. Which is much more doable in terms of following and watching them. Additionally, it makes it more FAIR for teams. You get to play everyone same amount of time, while now some teams play more games against certain opponents, that may or not may be in their favor due to them being better or worse.

The playoffs are a big joke in the way that its best of 7. If there is a "need" to have a best off series, make it best of 3. It is complete and utter garbage to have a final where there are 7 games played. Makes it not very meaningful games. And then they call it the most difficult cup to win in all of sports. Um no, not really. You can shit the bed for a week, lose 3 games, and STILL win the damn cup. Thats stupid.

Ideally I would love it if it was like soccer world cup finals (or even champions league) just 1 or 2 game series. In 2 game series away goals count for something.

Most people will disagree with that, but it makes all games MUCH more intense. The fact that LA lost 3 games in a row and STILL made it to round 2 is quite ridiculous if you really think about it.

The LESS games in a season, the MORE intense the games are, and the more fun they are to watch. The only reason we have this many games is to make money. If I was the commissioner I would make the league like I presented above.

Also, because games are more meaningful in a shortened season, I believe they can raise the ticket prices easily and still sell out the games. So I don't necessarily believe they would lose a lot of money by shortening the season. Arena's can make up revenue by having more concerts or whatever.

I've thought about this a lot, and I TRULY believe it would make the league better this way.

Thoughts?

Sorry Dutch, but I'm gonna have to totally disagree with your entire post!

So are you saying you would prefer to see a regular season similar to what we had last year after the lockout where mediocre teams can go on a hot run for a few games and that being sufficient to sneak into the playoffs? You want the playoffs to showcase the best teams, and the best teams are usually the ones who play the best over a long run.

And complaining that the playoffs are boring is just crazy. The post-season is the BEST of what our sport (or any sport) has to offer. If you can't get excited for playoff hockey whether your favorite team is in or not, than you're not really a hockey fan.

The rule in sports is simple. The longer the competition, the bigger the chance the better competitor rises to the top. In tennis, the men play best of 3 sets in warm up tournaments but at the Grand Slam events, they play best of 5. There's a reason for that. Best of 7 series in any sport ensures that mediocre teams don't suddenly get lucky for a short period of time and sneak by good teams. And you always want the best players/teams competing against each other for championships.

And please don't ge me started on your desire to make hockey more like soccer! Let's just bring the shootout to the playoffs as well so we don't get those boring triple overtime games anymore!!!

[golfguy1672]

As an oilers fan I am only aware of of the season starting at the entry draft and going to about 3 weeks into the regular season where they are mathematically eliminated from playoffs.

A solid 4 month season.

[Dutch]

Sorry Dutch, but I'm gonna have to totally disagree with your entire post!

So are you saying you would prefer to see a regular season similar to what we had last year after the lockout where mediocre teams can go on a hot run for a few games and that being sufficient to sneak into the playoffs? You want the playoffs to showcase the best teams, and the best teams are usually the ones who play the best over a long run.

And complaining that the playoffs are boring is just crazy. The post-season is the BEST of what our sport (or any sport) has to offer. If you can't get excited for playoff hockey whether your favorite team is in or not, than you're not really a hockey fan.

The rule in sports is simple. The longer the competition, the bigger the chance the better competitor rises to the top. In tennis, the men play best of 3 sets in warm up tournaments but at the Grand Slam events, they play best of 5. There's a reason for that. Best of 7 series in any sport ensures that mediocre teams don't suddenly get lucky for a short period of time and sneak by good teams. And you always want the best players/teams competing against each other for championships.

And please don't ge me started on your desire to make hockey more like soccer! Let's just bring the shootout to the playoffs as well so we don't get those boring triple overtime games anymore!!!

I have NO problem having playoff games be decided by shootouts after a sufficient OT period. The biggest tournament on the planet uses this strategy and its great. Sure the heartbreak is big when you lose, but the adrenaline is intense when you win. Winning a game in best of 7 means nothing.

The fact you want your best teams playing for championship is NOT good for the sport. Why have a league if you want Boston - Chicago final anyways.

It would be HUGE for the sport if somehow a Islanders vs. Predators final was played if they were underdogs.

I'd actually like to take it another step. I think it should be so that the 2 or 3 worst teams move to AHL every year, while top 2-3 AHL teams make it to NHL. I understand that this is not possible due to minor league teams and such, but how cool would that be. Teams like Edmonton wouldn't be tanking for draftpicks year in and out, I tell you that!

Tennis comparison is not accurate. Your example would be valid if they would have 5 set games, and then play a best of 7 to determine the US open. How uninteresting would it be to see Djokovic - Nadal 5 games in a row in 1 week. Just not the same.

Only the major league sports in North America (and possibly hockey in Europe) use this silly best of 7 stuff.

No need to make a league 120 games long with really only 40 of them interesting enough to watch.

If teams suddenly get "lucky" (let's say buffalo vs. boston this year) and moves on, how cool would that be? Clearly the better team isn't the best, if they lost against this "lucky" team.

I am complete opposite on your standpoint lol

[Dikoi]

I am complete opposite on your standpoint lol

Haha, one of those 'agree to disagree' situations then!