Playoff expansion has been a topic of conversation lately. As the league expands the number of teams, it gets harder and harder to get into the NHL Playoffs. There used to be 21 teams in the league and 16 teams got into the playoffs. Now, there are 32 teams in the league and still only 16 teams get into the playoffs.
As the talks continue about adding even more teams to the league in the future, it seems that soon there will be an expansion to the playoffs as well. I’ve been putting some thought into what playoff expansion might look like and have come up with an idea that I think could work. I’m going to outline that idea here.
There are four divisions in the league. The Atlantic, the Metropolitan, the Central, and the Pacific. Five teams from each division would qualify for the playoffs. That’s a total of 20 teams. There can’t be 10 playoff series to start because that would leave an odd number of series in the second round. There would have to be double the amount of teams for an even number of series to occur in each round and we’re not going to allow 32 teams in the playoffs. That’s ludicrous.
At the start of the NHL Playoffs, instead of a seven-game series, there would be an intra-divisional round robin
That’s four games against the other teams in your division. After the round robin, one team from each division would be eliminated from the playoffs, and the remaining teams would be reseeded based on the results of the round robin.
The big risk here is that a team that finished in first place could potentially be bounced from the playoffs before they ever play a playoff series. To compensate for that risk, the teams who finish higher in the standings would get home-ice advantage in the round robin portion of the playoffs.
A team that finished first in the regular season would get four home games in the round robin as a reward for doing so. A team that finished second in their division would get three home games and one road game and so on.
The team that finished fifth in their division would really have the odds stacked against them because by finishing fifth they would likely be inferior to the higher teams plus they would have to go on the road for four straight games in a playoff atmosphere to qualify for the series portion. I think this is a pretty good home-ice advantage for the teams finishing higher in their division.
The teams would then enter the series portion of the NHL Playoffs
Rounds 1 and 2 would be played against the other teams in your own division. This is a lot of games against the teams in your own division and if variety is the spice of life, then somebody might get bored with seeing the same teams over and over. That’s why the reseeding is important.
It’s true, I’m tired of seeing the Lightning vs. the Maple Leafs every year, or the Kings vs. the Oilers yet again. The 2-3 matchup is what has determined the matchups in the first round over the last several seasons. That matchup can be anticipated months before the end of the regular season.
I already know Tampa-Toronto is very likely to occur and Kings-Oilers is pretty likely to occur as well. By reseeding the teams from the round robin then you wouldn’t know who each team is playing until the round robin is over and it could be any of the four other teams.
The name of the second round would change from Round 2 to the Division Final. The playoff progression would be: The round robin, then the First Round, then the Atlantic Division Final for example, then the Conference Final, and finally the Stanley Cup Final.
Instead of looking at the standings on the wild card tab throughout the season, fans would look at the Division tab to see their favorite team’s position and determining their chances at making the playoffs. The top five of eight are in the playoffs and the bottom three are not, the 2-3 matchup and the wild card tab go away, and pertinent information is cleaner and easier to digest.
It adds four games to the schedule. These four games could be taken from the preseason schedule. There are varied opinions about the preseason schedule. Personally, I love the preseason. It gives me a chance to see the prospects play in my team’s sweater versus real NHL talent in NHL arenas.
However, that’s because the team I follow has lots of prospects at this point in time. Teams across the NHL would have various states of prospect pools and I’d trade playoff action for preseason games anytime.
It would slightly affect the draft lottery, as 12 teams would be non-playoff teams instead of 16. With fewer teams being eligible for the lottery, I think the lottery could be made slightly more random. Because the 4.5% chance of the 13-16th teams to win the lottery would be spread over the field and, in my opinion, that 4.5% could be used to weight the 9-12 teams slightly more.
I think it’s more exciting overall. First of all, getting more teams involved in the tournament. The round robin, I feel, is an awesome way to kick off the playoff season, like an appetizer to the series portion. The two divisional rounds immediately following the round robin has the potential for some especially heated rivalry games.
The extension of the playoffs adds another 10 days to the cup chase, adding an additional level of accomplishment to winning the second round. The Conference Final is a bit higher up than it already is, and winning the Stanley Cup is incrementally harder to win and is bit sweeter when your team does. Also, the draft lottery is more exciting for the teams not competing if the 12th team has a slightly higher chance of winning it.