Playoff Format

[2014olympicgold]

With Crosby and McDavid talking about their dislike of the current playoff format, I was wondering what the crowd here is feeling.

The team owners have made a push to adjust how the schedule is made by moving towards a format that pushes divisional games more in an 84 game schedule. So you would have Toronto playing the west twice (16 home, 16 away), Toronto playing the Metro twice (8 home, 8 away) leaving 36 games left for divisional games (roughly 5 games/opponent). Pushing for more divisional games would then make the 1-8 format, in practice, not make sense.

I want 1-8, play the other conference twice (32), play the other division 3 times (24), play your division 3-4 times (26) and leave it at 82game schedule. Make sure you have the divisional games spread nicely throughout the season otherwise you have Toronto vs Boston 3 times before January and they don't meet again. Remove 2-3 preseason games, extend the season by 1 week at the beginning and end of the season, remove as many B2Bs as possible.

But what do you think?

[PenguinHunter]

I much prefer the 1-8 setup. It makes it more exciting.

I don't even mind the 1-16 matchup system.
I know it doesn't make sense geographically and financially.

But I would love the chance to see two top teams from the same division
to meet up in the Stanley Cup Finals rather than the first or second round.

Like in 2017-18 playoffs when Winnipeg and Nashville were top two teams and they had to play in second round.

[Bramuin]

84 games, Yeah, I could see that That would work for me. 2 Conferences@ 16. With 2 Divisions @ 8
Play East/West twice for 32 gamesPlay own Conference three times for 45 games. Play 1 extra game in your division for 7 games. 1-8. Top 2 (1 in each Division get 1&2 every one else whatever) Reseat after each round. I could see that.

[Invictus]

I didn't mind how it is currently, until I heard what Crosby was saying.

I like the concept of fighting out of your division, but current setup makes the importance of the season really not there. Which isn't right to me as it's a long grinding 82 game schedule. There should be adequate reward for that.

Stick to 82 games, season is long enough.

[LawMan]

I actually like the idea of divisional play because you can build rivalries year over year. The thing I really dislike is the current Wild Card format, as it does not make much sense to me.
If in charge I would keep the divisions and amend the Wild Card to a "cross-over" where if the 5th team in a division had MORE points than the 4th in it's neighboring division then the 5-seed would get the 4-seed in the other division.
I.e. If the 5th team in the Pacific had MORE points than the 4th seed in the Central said 5th seed would become the Central's 4th seed.

I really dislike the fact that you can have 2 cross-over matchups in the first round as it essentially defeats the point of the Divisional matchup in my view.
I would not mind going back to 1-8 in conferences, as you should still end up with top teams playing each other a few times year over year. I would not like 1-16 seems to chaotic and the time zones and game times would be a nightmare.

[2014olympicgold]

My issue with the Divisional format is that you get the larger matchups burned in the first 2 rounds. And then you see casual fans viewership drop off.

For me (Leaf Fan), my interest dropped right off after the 2nd round as the tough rivalries were done with typically. For me, I think you should have those rivalries in rounds past round 1. Everyone who watches the playoffs watches round 1. You could have the least interesting matchup of Boston vs Buffalo and people will watch it. You might not get the same viewership levels of a Boston vs Buffalo semi-finals.

Biggest complaint is you get 8 SOLID matchups in the first 2 weeks of the playoffs, then it tails off.

[Dover]

I don’t like the actual format. It makes no sense that Toronto ( 4th in the league ) would go against against Tampa (6th in the league) in the 1st round! I much prefer the good old 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7….

[2014olympicgold]

I don’t like the actual format. It makes no sense that Toronto ( 4th in the league ) would go against against Tampa (6th in the league) in the 1st round! I much prefer the good old 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7….

It's funny cause Toronto vs Tampa would be the 4v5 matchup right now lol.

East Conference 1v8 format would be:
(1) Boston vs (8) Pitts
(2) Carolina vs (7) Wash
(3) NJD vs (6) NYR
(4) TOR vs (5) TBL

Or the current way:
(1) Boston vs (WC2) Pitts
(2) Carolina vs (WC1) Wash
NJD vs NYR
TOR vs TBL

It is a bit murky with GP not being equal tho, however in the 1v8 the regular season still matters for a lot more teams as Toronto could jump NJD. Or NYR could jump Tampa

[kovalchuk17]

1v8 please. If they want to cut costs during the regular season, they should have teams playing b2b games in the same city same rink like they did during the covid season. From what I call players liked it and then it was quickly discarded the following season

i am not in support of an 84 game season. the season is already gruelling and i anticipate thisll just end up being just a b2b game somewhere. with the in-season 1 week break + potential for returning to the olympics in future seasons i would want less b2b games

[stevegamer]

I feel that 1-8 via conference works, but that 1-16 league wide is a terrible idea that people are underestimating.

General positives of the divisional format:
- least time zone travel
- rivalry games baked in


General positives of the 1-8 per conference format;
- some time zone travel, but not too much, especially in the east.
- rivalry games are still there, but less probable, but sometimes later in playoffs. Also you can get non-divisional rivals meeting up.


General positives of the 1-16 format:
- no weak 7th-8th place team(s) in the weaker conference gets in.
Big downside: ridiculous travel burdens.

[The Comish]

1 vs 8 for this guy

[chuckcouples]

I voted other. It should be 1 vs 16 in round one. Make the regular season matter.

[pmorrow]

I loved the leadup to the playoffs when there were tons of different matchup scenarios in 1 v 8.

[ross10019]

I voted other. It should be 1 vs 16 in round one. Make the regular season matter.

Old school! Yeah that was fun. So many possibilities every year. But almost certain you a bridge too far due to combo of travel complications (East-based teams and players would certainly balk) and further impact on rivalry thing. 1v8 a mich more likely outcome if they change things.

Incidentally I do believe it will change, because of this year and in particular the divisional playoff qualifiers in the Atlantic already being decided as of like 2 months ago. We’ve known for a while now that it will be Leafs v Lightning, which is just stupid.

[Pengwin7]

I like divisional. I think NHL has it right with top 3 each division + 7th/8th. I really like that system.

But... since 7 of 8 conference teams (& their fans) are eliminated each year, people are ALWAYS looking to change a playoff system.

This said - those of us that grew up with 80s hockey - THOSE were some of the most memorable rivalries.
That 1v4, 2v3 in divisions created/enhanced a lot of the rivalries we still feel really intensely today.

It's really NOT the regular season match-ups that creates the rivalries... it's the playoffs.

So... while I feel players & fans remembering losses to the same teams over & over...
Those are also memories - when you win THAT series against a team you've met several times over.

Conference playoffs... 1v8... it will only trick fans/players to feel like there's a different hope.
It's the same hope, just with different glasses on.