The night before the US midterm elections the NBA did something neat: tip offs every 15 minutes starting at 7pm ET. All 30 teams playing so that everyone would have the day off to vote (probably more accurate to say to advertise voting, but I digress). A bit of a March Madness thing. Neat.
The other Big 3 have all expanded their playoffs and tinkered with schedules much more than NHL in recent years.
Meanwhile, the NHL has done nothing other than expand to the point that 50% of teams qualify for playoffs. There have been two other seasons ('74 and '75) in the last 80 years that were 50% (never any lower).
We can maintain the lore of 4xBo7 series, but we're missing out on a better way to get to that final 16. The NBA actually nailed it with their new format, even though it seemed a bit weird at first.
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