UPDATE: NHLPA votes for further negotiations on 24-team return to play format

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Titan

There also wasn't a global pandemic that brought the entire world to its knees in the '80s.

How does it affect "integrity" at all? The NHL threw a curveball and is trying to adapt the best they can. I am fairly certain if you ask any of the top 8 teams would they rather go to top 12 or scrap the whole thing it is a simple answer.

The NHL is thinking way beyond what anyone on this board has come up with. Elliot Friedman said one possibility, if going with the 4 hub, 24 team, idea would be 5 game round robin "play in" with the teams being handicapped. The top team (based on regular season points/ win % would start with 10 pts, second place 8 pts and down on to 0 pts for the 6th ranked team. Each win would be worth 2 pts like the regular season. After the round robin is complete , the bottom four teams would have a best of 3 series to determine the 3 and 4 seeds and the top 2 teams would receive byes. Those would be the 4 teams from each division for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Pacific Division would launch like this Indy this format

Vegas 10pts
Oilers 8pts
Flames 6pts
Canucks 4pts
Coyotes 2pts
Ducks 0pts

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

The NHL is thinking way beyond what anyone on this board has come up with. Elliot Friedman said one possibility, if going with the 4 hub, 24 team, idea would be 5 game round robin "play in" with the teams being handicapped. The top team (based on regular season points/ win % would start with 10 pts, second place 8 pts and down on to 0 pts for the 6th ranked team. Each win would be worth 2 pts like the regular season. After the round robin is complete , the bottom four teams would have a best of 3 series to determine the 3 and 4 seeds and the top 2 teams would receive byes. Those would be the 4 teams from each division for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Pacific Division would launch like this Indy this format

Vegas 10pts
Oilers 8pts
Flames 6pts
Canucks 4pts
Coyotes 2pts
Ducks 0pts

I like it. Best format I’ve seen so far.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Dragomir

It’s the fact that we started with one set of playoff rules(top 8 make it in) and then it gets changed at the last second to include 12.... Every team currently in a playoff spot played harder and even gave up assets to be where they are at. It just ruins the integrity of the NHL, back in the 80’s it was understood from the get go what the rules were.

Top 8 after 82 games and a (nearly) balanced schedule. I think picking 8 right now would have less integrity than a properly handicapped play-in


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

The NHL is thinking way beyond what anyone on this board has come up with. Elliot Friedman said one possibility, if going with the 4 hub, 24 team, idea would be 5 game round robin "play in" with the teams being handicapped. The top team (based on regular season points/ win % would start with 10 pts, second place 8 pts and down on to 0 pts for the 6th ranked team. Each win would be worth 2 pts like the regular season. After the round robin is complete , the bottom four teams would have a best of 3 series to determine the 3 and 4 seeds and the top 2 teams would receive byes. Those would be the 4 teams from each division for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Pacific Division would launch like this Indy this format

Vegas 10pts
Oilers 8pts
Flames 6pts
Canucks 4pts
Coyotes 2pts
Ducks 0pts

I’ve been thinking about something like this.

Ducks in over the Wild (and Sabres over CBJ it NYR) would be asinine though.

The handicapping needs to better reflect current deltas in the standings, too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[getbak]

I was thinking of something like that, but I wouldn't do the bottom 4 play-in. Just go straight to the top-4 making the playoffs and go from there.


What I was thinking was:

1. Assign each team points based on their performance in the season up to the cancellation. This could be either a cut-down to 68 games or just using the teams' points percentages at the stoppage as their starting points number.
   
   
2. In each hub, the six teams will play one game each against the other 5 teams, points are assigned as normal, or they could use this as a chance to try out a 3 point system with 3 points for a regulation win, 2 for an OT/SO win, and 1 for an OT/SO loss.
   
   
3. After all of the games have been played, the top 4 teams in each hub will play a standard playoff series 1v4 and 2v3. The winners of those will play each other to determine the final four teams, who will all convene in one of the hub cities to play the final 2 rounds of the playoffs.

In this scenario, all of the 24 teams would have a chance to make the playoffs, but the teams who performed best during the actual season will have the best chance.

Also, there's no reason to necessarily maintain the Division or even Conference structure for the hubs, especially if they're not going to have the host teams playing in their own cities (as was apparently mentioned by Treliving in the STH call yesterday). They could go with a straight 1-12 Conference ranking or even a 1-24 league ranking.


For example, if you did a straight 1-24 ranking, and distributed the teams in a snake structure using the final points percentage (which would be the structure to most-likely give a final 4 of the top 4 teams in the league), you'd have:

HUB 1
BOS		71.4
VGK		60.6
CAR		59.6
NAS		56.5
VAN		56.5
MTL		50.0

HUB 2
STL		66.2
PIT		62.3
DAL		59.4
FLA		56.5
NYR		56.4
CHI		51.4

HUB 3
COL		65.7
PHI		64.5
NYI		58.8
CBJ		57.9
CGY		56.4
ARI		52.9

HUB 4	
TBL		65.7
WAS		65.2
EDM		58.5
TOR		57.9
WPG		56.3
MIN		55.8

This gives a clear advantage to the teams who performed well in the regular season while still giving the lower teams a shot at making the playoffs, especially if they used a 3-point format and it was possible to get 15 points in 5 games.


The same thing could be done with a 1-12 Conference format, which would be better than keeping the Divisions separate just because the bad teams in the Pacific and Atlantic Divisions were so bad and the lower teams in the Metro and Central aren't nearly as bad.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Enormous challenges ahead for the NHL's plans

https://twitter.com/user/status/1262059596186660864

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I don't have an issue with the integrity of the result if there's a 24 team playoff, nor am I one of those people who thinks whoever wins this should have an asterisk next to their name. But the 24 team format just seems inherently unfair, including teams who had no chance whatsoever of making the playoffs under the normal rules. It is a transparent attempt to try to force certain high-value markets - notably the Rangers and Blackhawks - into a playoff tournament that they absolutely do not deserve to be in.

I'll watch either way, sure, but from where I sit, it should just be normal format, normal matchups, with standings based on points percentage at the time the season was suspended, with a two week training camp to get the teams back somewhat to speed before the playoffs start. It's a pretty simple solultion, makes clear sense, addresses the "integrity" issue some people have with an altered format, but it won't generate the most revenue so it isn't even considered. I really wish the NHL had some pride, rather than taking every opportunity to scrape up every dollar it can.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Enormous challenges ahead for the NHL's plans

https://twitter.com/user/status/1262059596186660864

Yeah. This is why I remain of the opinion that restarting this season is ####ing asinine. Stick a fork in it and begin the enormous planning endeavor that will be required for us to even have hope of next season.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Titan

There also wasn't a global pandemic that brought the entire world to its knees in the '80s.

How does it affect "integrity" at all? The NHL threw a curveball and is trying to adapt the best they can. I am fairly certain if you ask any of the top 8 teams would they rather go to top 12 or scrap the whole thing it is a simple answer.

Wait, the NHL started covid? I've seen a lot of crazy conspiracy theories but that one is definitely out of left field.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Yeah. This is why I remain of the opinion that restarting this season is ####ing asinine. Stick a fork in it and begin the enormous planning endeavor that will be required for us to even have hope of next season.

Oh yeah, almost no way they actually play. But as a multi-billion dollar business they have to work 24/7 to plan for and attempt every angle.

Have you seen the social media pics of bars in the US, 30 minutes after re-opening? They. Are. ****ED. They will be right back to where they started two months ago, by June. I would enjoy any golf or nascar you get to watch in the next month because the second wave is coming very quickly and will likely be the same, if not slightly less than the original US outbreak.

Originally we were talking about the second wave in the US in the fall. Now the fall will be the third wave.

[jayswin]

And again, Canada had better not open up the border anywhere in the near future. And I suspect as soon as the second wave starts to hit in the US we'll extend the border closure for at least summer.

[Kidder]

US cases will go WAY down cause trump is just gonna stop testing.

[getbak]

This week's Last Week Tonight had a good segment about the challenges of safely restarting sports, even in a "bubble".

[Flamenspiel]

Yea, surprised that the Bundesliga actually went ahead after suspending an entire team, I guess DD is in DIV 2. The social distancing on the bench in hockey is going to be a challenge. Still soccer is a more amenable game to maintaining physical distance. I tried to watch a bit, it was like watching paint dry.

One more advantage is that Germany has a well funded health system that’s puts ours to shame, let alone the US.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

Yea, surprised that the Bundesliga actually went ahead after suspending an entire team, I guess DD is in DIV 2. The social distancing on the bench in hockey is going to be a challenge. Still soccer is a more amenable game to maintaining physical distance. I tried to watch a bit, it was like watching paint dry.

One more advantage is that Germany has a well funded health system that’s puts ours to shame, let alone the US.

Why would they need to social distance on the bench? They will be in the same cohort.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Kidder

US cases will go WAY down cause trump is just gonna stop testing.

Hard to hide the dead though

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Oh yeah, almost no way they actually play. But as a multi-billion dollar business they have to work 24/7 to plan for and attempt every angle.

Have you seen the social media pics of bars in the US, 30 minutes after re-opening? They. Are. ****ED. They will be right back to where they started two months ago, by June. I would enjoy any golf or nascar you get to watch in the next month because the second wave is coming very quickly and will likely be the same, if not slightly less than the original US outbreak.

Originally we were talking about the second wave in the US in the fall. Now the fall will be the third wave.

Right now the trend in new infections and fatalities don’t seem that different between the countries, not accounting for massive disparities by region. Not that I’m suggesting there is any point in opening the border right now. There are parts of both countries that have extremely low infection rates that don’t need to see any visitors.

What you are predicting would be a human tragedy on a massive scale so I sure hope you’re wrong.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I don't have an issue with the integrity of the result if there's a 24 team playoff, nor am I one of those people who thinks whoever wins this should have an asterisk next to their name. But the 24 team format just seems inherently unfair, including teams who had no chance whatsoever of making the playoffs under the normal rules. It is a transparent attempt to try to force certain high-value markets - notably the Rangers and Blackhawks - into a playoff tournament that they absolutely do not deserve to be in.

I'll watch either way, sure, but from where I sit, it should just be normal format, normal matchups, with standings based on points percentage at the time the season was suspended, with a two week training camp to get the teams back somewhat to speed before the playoffs start. It's a pretty simple solultion, makes clear sense, addresses the "integrity" issue some people have with an altered format, but it won't generate the most revenue so it isn't even considered. I really wish the NHL had some pride, rather than taking every opportunity to scrape up every dollar it can.

The Rangers were two points out of a playoff spot when the season abruptly shut down. The Blackhawks were definitely further back. They had been on a heater but then kind of cooled off so not likely they would have made it.

I'm not sure this potential format reflects a lack of pride really. Or that's not how I read it anyway.

[standinmotion]

NY is ready to host: "New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he’s asked major league sports teams to start planning to play their seasons without fans, adding that the state is willing to help." If NY is willing to play ball, chances are other states (but not necessarily all states) will be as well. The tumbling block is cross-country travels.


https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/18/new-...uomo-says.html

[really?]

Originally Posted by Kidder

US cases will go WAY down cause trump is just gonna stop testing.

Which would lead to a dramatic spike in mortality figures.