The Stanley Cup playoffs format has delivered disappointment and controversy year after year since its introduction. It’s time for it to change.
The NHL’s new playoff format has been in place since the 2013-14 season, and it’s been a very controversial topic at times. Some people like it, since it’s a bit different, but others don’t like it for various reasons. Let’s take a look at why the NHL made a mistake with this new format and why it’s finally time to move on.
Doesn’t reward regular season success
This is probably the biggest thing that’s wrong with the new format. Teams that do well in the regular season don’t get rewarded in the playoffs unless they’re the top seed in their conference or if they win their division.
Last season, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Columbus Blue Jackets met in the first round of the playoffs, and both teams had two of the top 10 best records in hockey. That series needs to be saved for the later rounds, not relegated to the first round. The Penguins and the Washington Capitals have met the previous two seasons, having two of the best records in the conference, as well, in the second round. That needs to be an Eastern Conference Final, considering those were the two best teams in the conference standings last year and the year before that. A lot of people thought whoever won that series was going to go to the Final, and that’s exactly what happened in both of those seasons.
This season, we may very well see the Nashville Predators and the Winnipeg Jets play in the second round. These are two of the top three teams in the Western Conference and two of the six best teams in the league, points-wise. One of those two teams is going to be knocked out before the conference final, as will one of the Boston Bruins or Tampa Bay Lightning. These all should be potential conference final series, and if the league went back to the old format (No. 1 vs. No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7, etc.), it would have the chance to be.
“Rivalries”
Perhaps the biggest reason the NHL went with this new format was that they wanted more rivalries for playoff series. It’s a little bit outdated thinking, as you can have any playoff series develop a rivalry with two teams and it’s also not even needed to make a great series. The Blue Jackets and Penguins were always going to become rivals even if they didn’t meet that much in the playoffs. In the old format, for the Eastern Conference, you’d have matchups such as the Penguins versus the Maple Leafs and the Lightning versus Blue Jackets. Those would be outstanding series, even though those teams aren’t rivals.
In the Western Conference, you could have a series such as the Minnesota Wild versus the San Jose Sharks in the old format and the Winnipeg Jets versus the Anaheim Ducks. Those would be some outstanding playoff series, considering those teams haven’t met in the playoffs in recent years. It’s better than seeing the same teams play each other each year, such as the Chicago Blackhawks against the St. Louis Blues or the Penguins against the New York Rangers in the East, when they played each other three straight years in the playoffs.
So what’s the solution to the format? There are plenty of other formats people have thrown around. The league could go back to the No. 1 versus No. 8 format, which would be better. There are other options, but no changes are likely to happen for awhile.
One option would be to do No. 1 versus No. 16, No. 2 versus No. 15, etc., and not care about Eastern Conference teams versus Eastern Conference teams or Western Conference teams versus Western Conference teams. There would be lots of new matchups, and even the NBA has talked about potentially doing that in the future. Another idea would be for the top teams to be able to pick who they play in the first round, though they’d probably just pick the lowest seed. It would still be interesting, as even though that’s would what probably happen, there still could be some shock picks between the top teams.
Next: Which Game of Thrones characters would make the best hockey players?
The NHL made a mistake with this format. It’s okay for the league to admit it was wrong and that it’s best to just move on.