A reminder that the NHL playoff format is deeply stupid

With the NHL on pause and the Stanley Cup playoffs in question, it seems to be an appropriate time for a reminder that the NHL’s postseason format is an unnecessary mess.

The NHL, and the sports world as a whole, has hit uncharted territory. With the NHL season put on an indefinite pause due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Stanley Cup playoffs are also in question for the first time since 1918. Even if the season were to resume, the normal format would almost certainly be replaced in the short term, possibly with a rumored 24-team format.

It’s a real shame because the Stanley Cup playoffs are far and away the best time of year. Two months of the most grueling hockey imaginable in pursuit of the legendary Stanley Cup has made them into most exciting playoffs to watch across all major sports. However, it’s still far from perfect. It just needs to get fix the messy seeding format holding it back.

The current playoff format in place has the top three teams in each division make the playoffs, with two wild card teams in each conference for a total of eight teams. The lowest-seeded wild card team in each conference plays the division winner with the best record, while the higher seeded wild card plays the other division winner. The second and third seed in each division also play each other in round one, with the winners facing off in round two.

On paper, it doesn’t seem that bad. It makes the regular season more interesting by adding more playoff races, and almost guarantees some solid first round matchups. So what’s the problem with it?

The problem with this current system is that it creates key matchups way too early in the playoffs, and often punishes the best teams for being in better divisions, and rewards worse teams for being in worse divisions. As a result, the playoffs suffer a huge drop off after the first round just about every single year as key matchups happen way too early that forces major contenders out of the picture.

The most egregious example of this current playoff format took place in the 2017 playoffs. The Metropolitan division was stacked with the three best teams in the East with Washington, Pittsburgh, and Columbus. Thanks to the format, two of these teams were guaranteed to be out by the second round along with second ranked Pittsburgh and third ranked Columbus facing each other in the first round.

Meanwhile in the Atlantic Division is where it got even worse. The Ottawa Senators were the sixth best team in the conference, and they got to play the seventh ranked Boston Bruins. Meanwhile the Montreal Canadiens, who won the division, played the fifth best team, the New York Rangers. Let’s make that clear, the Senators and Bruins got a lower ranked opponent in the first round than the Canadiens, who won the division. Along with that, the Rangers were just one win away from having more points than the Canadiens and not having home ice advantage because of the broken format.

So to recap, the first round matchups in the east in 2017 based on a 1-8 ranking were:

No. 1 Washington vs. No. 8 Toronto

No. 2 Pittsburgh vs. No. 3 Columbus

No. 4 Montreal vs. No. 5 New York Rangers

No. 6 Ottawa vs. No. 7 Senators

In the second round, the top ranked Capitals were matched up with second ranked Pittsburgh, while the sixth seed Senators got home ice advantage against the fifth seed Rangers. When Pittsburgh and Ottawa met in the Eastern Conference Final, Pittsburgh had to beat the first and third seed to get there, while Ottawa had to beat the fifth and seventh seeds. While 2017 is by far the worst example, it is far from the only one.

Does it make any sense for worse teams to have easier playoff paths just for the sake of manufacturing rivalry series’ early on? There is hardly ever a dud of a playoff series no matter how obscure the matchup, and this current system often leads to over saturating rivalries like Washington/Pittsburgh and Boston/Toronto. The playoffs should get better as they go on, not worse.

This current format came into effect for the first time in the 2013-14 season, which replaced the old format of a 1-8 seeding format with the division winners taking the top three seeds. The problem with the original format was that the divisions were not what they are now. There were three divisions in each conference, which would usually lead to some messy playoff seeding that needed to be fixed. But by “fixing” it, they only made the original problem much worse.

Going back to the original format of a 1-8 system, except with the modern division format is a simple solution. The two division winners should get the top two seeds, with the rest of the conference being ranked No. 3-8. That would take care of just about every unbalanced matchup, and would ensure that the teams that deserve to go far will play each other and the appropriate times.

Obviously it would be common for a third seed to have more points than a second seed, but that adds a level of incentive to win your division in order to get the preferable first round matchup and secure home ice through at least the first two rounds. You could just have a 1-8 system that doesn’t care about divisions, but that would require scrapping divisions entirely and making the regular season less interesting overall.

Since the NHL seems quite stuck on never changing the format, this new/old format is realistically the most likely compromise if it were to ever change in the near future. The NHL gets to keep divisions with division winners still getting rewarded, while the fans and players get a more fair playoff system that rewards teams properly for regular season success and more balanced matchups throughout.

In the end, the Stanley Cup are always going to be spectacular no matter the format. It doesn’t need help with gimmicks to make it more entertaining. All it needs to be is more reasonable.

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