Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
I get the disappointment of the early playoffs exit, but what was wrong with how the regular season ended? The Flames won top seed in the West with games to spare, and they played some excellent hockey down the stretch including a textbook road game in SJ to clinch.
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People only care about playoff success in the NHL.
The NHL puts so much emphasis on the Playoffs that the regular season is pretty much a non-factor when it comes to measuring success.
IMO more of an advantage needs to be provided for division winners come playoff time, and there should be more of a celebration for winning the Presidents Trophy. IMO being the best team over an 82 game season is much more indicative of being the best team in the league than the randomness of a 7 game series.
The league being driven by playoff success is magnified by the fact that the NHL has allowed and even promotes that it pretty much becomes a different sport with different rules for the Playoffs vs Regular Season. Building a team to be the best over 82 games is much different than being the best in a 7 game series with the current NHL officiating standard.
The argument is always that the NHL product is so much better come playoff time because of the style of play being different but I think they need to find a medium of having the game be more intense while still following the same rules.
MLB playoffs are more exciting/intense than the regular season and they can still follow the same rules.
NFL playoffs are more exciting/intense than the regular season and they can still follow the same rules.
NBA playoffs are more exciting/intense than the regular season and they can still follow the same rules.
NHL is the only sport of the big 4 in North America that seems to have different rules for playoffs vs the regular season.