New wild card playoff format

[Fire]

Originally Posted by #-3

A guy can dream.

And it is the standing they are in right now.

It's kind of sad that the Flames have played great so far and they are still only hanging onto a wild card spot. I can't see how they could end up being in a playoff spot at the end of the season.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Fire

It's kind of sad that the Flames have played great so far and they are still only hanging onto a wild card spot. I can't see how they could end up being in a playoff spot at the end of the season.

Still a long way to go but, Its Hard when you have San Jose and Anaheim in your division looking like two of the top cup contenders.

And when to we get to start crying, Games in Hand?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

So let's say 5 teams in the Pacific gets in and 3 from the Central.
If the Central Division winner has less points then the Pacific Division winner, does the 4th placed Pacific team crossover to the Central instead of the 5th placed team?

It's better not to think of it in terms of crossover - it's a hybrid, divisional/conference system

2 vs 3 is a divisional matchup.

Division winners get to play the wildcard teams - the higher divisional winner gets the lower wildcard (a conference matchup)

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Phaneufenstein

You're right, that is weird.
I thought it was designed to promote intra-division playoff rivalry

It was and it will

There will be a minimum of 4 and as many as 8 divisional games in the first round. Then up to 4 more in the second round.

I think it's awesome - lots of divisional rivalries, but still the opportunity to have other matchups (not the exact same thing year after year)

[flamesfan1297]

i am not a fan of this whole format. i prefered the way it used to be. Maybe i just dont like change

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by flamesfan1297

i am not a fan of this whole format. i prefered the way it used to be. Maybe i just dont like change

The way it used to be was completely divisional playoffs. No conference seeding. And no wild cards

[dying4acup]

I agree that there should be an addendum to the format that if there are 4 teams from each division, all first round matchups stay in division. If San Jose wins the conference, and ends up having to travel to Winnipeg instead of Phoenix for the first round it sucks for travel.

Barring that, they should have 4 wildcards from any division, forgetting conference entirely, then allow the top 3 division winners select their opponent in order of finish. That would create huge rivalries and crazy motivation for underdogs.

I bet the kings would prefer to play Phoenix than play Montreal in the first round regardless of Phoenix finishing 10points higher in the standings, because of travel.