By Jordan Long
The NHL and the NHL Players Association agreed to keep the current playoff format for at least one more year. They have used the current divisional alignment since the 2013-2014 season. The NHL should really think about going back to seeding teams 1 through 8 in each conference.
Prior to the 2013 season, the NHL decided to change the divisions. They had used three divisions in each conference, the Atlantic, Northeast and Southeast in the Eastern Conference and the Central, Northwest and the Pacific in the Western Conference. The playoff teams were seeded 1 through 8 depending on their point total. Higher seeds would play the lower seeds in the 1st-round. The next round teams are re-seeded. This occurred all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. Once they reached the Stanley Cup Final, whoever had more points in the regular season had home ice advantage. This was fair because the franchise with more points was seeded higher no matter what round it was.
This went away in 2013. The NHL decided to realign franchises based on geography. There are 4 divisions, the Atlantic and Metropolitan in the Eastern Conference and the Pacific and Central in the Western Conference. The playoff format would be the division winners and the 2 teams with the most points in the division after that plus 2 Wild Card teams. The division winners played the Wild Card teams in the 1st-round while the 2 and 3 seeds in the division faced each other. In the 2nd-round division teams faced each other with the higher seed having the home ice advantage if there was a game 7. The division winners wouldn’t face each other until the Conference Finals.
The current arrangement for the NHL playoffs isn’t bad for the 1st-round. It’s the 2nd-round where it has been a problem. Last year, the Winnipeg Jets and the Nashville predators were two of the top teams in the Western Conference. Winnipeg totaled 114 points while Nashville had 117. They had to face each other in the 2nd round which could have easily been a matchup in the Conference Finals. Winnipeg went on to face Las Vegas in the Western Conference Finals.
According to NHL.Nbcsports.com, Lightning Forward Steven Stamkos said, “It is what it is. It has been that way for a while now. You’re going to have to beat the best teams to win anyways whether it’s the first round or the conference finals. I understand where they’re coming from from a marketing perspective, wanting to get some rivalries early on, but I think from a perspective of what you’re grinding 82 games for during a season is to finish as high as you can so you can have that advantage come playoffs.”
The NHL was hoping the divisional format would equal better matchups and rivalries. It hasn’t. It is time to go back to re-seeding teams 1 through 8. That seemed to be better plus the top teams didn’t face each other until later on in the postseason. The NHL needs to take a hard look and make a change. Hopefully a modification will be coming to the postseason format after the 2020 season. st Tab
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