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Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
Yeah I don't understand why the NHL likes the current format given how it produces unbalanced matchups in the first round. The old format ensured balanced first round matchups which should be the goal of any format.
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I think the original intent was rivalries, but the wildcard and reduction in regular season in-division games makes that pretty much irrelevant, so now it’s just a weird shell of what it was supposed to be. I suppose it also gives lower-seeded teams a slightly higher chance to advance, which the NHL must like for some reason. Though if the playoffs started today, the matchups would be the exact same in the conference format for the western conference and the two middle matches would change in the east (but they’re all within a couple points of each others so hard to see it being a significant change).