Quote:
Originally Posted by blender
Here's an idea:
Realign to 3 conferences, West, Central, East (which could be split into divisions or not), and have the top five from each conference plus the next best record make the playoffs and simply bracket it out as 1vs16, 2vs15...and so on.
Sample breakdown:
WEST
Van
SJ
LA
Ana
Phx
Edm
Cgy
Col
Min
Dal
CENTRAL
Chi
Nsh
Wpg
Stl
Clb
Det
Ott
Tor
Buf
Mon
EAST
Bos
NJ
NYI
NYR
Pitt
Phi
Car
TB
Fla
Wsh
|
I've had similar thoughts, although I had Winnipeg in the west and Dallas in the Central.
It also occurred to me that three, 10 team, divisions would also be convenient for a 20 team playoff format, (if they are still considering that).
Here's how it could work:
- Top four teams in each division would playoff down to a division champion, over two, best of seven, series. (eight wins to get to semi's)
- Meanwhile: eight additional teams would play off down to one "Wildcard champion" over three, best of five series. (nine wins to get to semi's).
- The best of five, wildcard series would be slightly condensed in order to end at around the same time as the Division Finals. (Each series would have at least one back to back game).
- Optionally: The wildcard series could also be based on a North vs South format (with the northern four most teams playing off, and the southernmost four teams playing off). This would create all sorts of interesting rivalries and would probably be great for TV ratings.
- Semi finals would be re-seeded with the wildcard team facing the team with the best regular season record. (The other two division champs would then play each other.)