^^
It's one thing to reward winning your division. But that is overshadowed by the fact that by doing so, you penalize other teams that perform even better.
New England, despite being 11-5, misses the playoffs to the 8-8 Chargers.
Atlanta has to play on the road, despite having a better record than Arizona. Ditto to Indy, Baltimore, and Philly.
The New York Giants have to play the tougher Eagles, as opposed to Arizona, because of a screwy playoff format. Likewise, Tennessee has to play a tougher Ravens team.
The faults in the current system are everywhere, and should be addressed.
To your point, The NHL system is also bad, but not as severe. Because of the automatic 3rd seed for division winner, it possibly encourages teams in 4/5th spot to tank to 6th, to get an easier opponent. That shouldn't happen.
Baseball is even worse, but I won't go there.
__________________
Gaudreau > Huberdeau AINEC
|