Playoff Format Complaint Thread

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by David Struch

If the playoffs were Conference 1st vs 8th.

Capitals vs Maple Leafs
Penguins vs Bruins
Blue Jackets vs Senators
Canadiens vs Rangers

Blackhawks vs Predators
Wild vs Flames
Ducks vs Sharks
Oilers vs Blues

Personally, I like the Divisional Format.

Capitals vs Rangers
Penguins vs Blue Jackets

Canadiens vs Maple Leafs
Senators vs Bruins

Blackhawks vs Predators
Wild vs Blues

Ducks vs Flames
Oilers vs Sharks

Originally Posted by calgaryred

So does the league it was the NHLPA that fought for the wildcard

Originally Posted by normtwofinger

Let's go even more archaic. Only the top 4 teams in the league make the playoffs. 1v3, 2v4.

Seriously though, the 1980s divisional format is the best in my opinion.

I like the conference format as it is way better. Thank goodness the PA rammed the wildcard proposal down Butthead and others throats.

[GirlySports]

a bit off topic but also a complaint

Why isn't there an afternoon game tomorrow? It's a holiday and the first round is the best time to showcase the sport all day long!

Blues-Wild at 2pm would be better than running parallel with everything else at 6pm.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

All I keep thinking reading this thread is "wow Mathgod must REALLY hate baseball"

If we have a different weight for games in the regular season to help good teams that had bad luck (injuries) then shouldn't the good teams have the same advantage in the playoffs?

ie: 1st seed goes up 3 games to 1, then call the series there, whereas if the bottom seed beats the 1st seed in 7 games, the top seed should get another game to try and tie the series.

Sports, like life, doesn't have equity. The best the league can do is set up a system of equality. 82 games, every game is worth the same. The teams good enough to be in the playoffs should be able to make the playoffs over a 6 month schedule. Every team will have injuries, every team will have adversity.

If games were weighted would it be fair to have trades? Should a team be rewarded for trading up at the trade deadline when a team that doesn't played the same roster all season?

Another poster also mentioned, you'll get teams that will sit players at the start of the season so they are healthy later in the season.

Now if you want to talk about eliminating the 3 point games, I'm all for that. Go win-loss. I don't like that the NHL already has a participation ribbon for games, and it affects the standings. The last week of the season would have been much different given that Anaheim has 9 more points than the Flames, but only one more win. I think that's foolish.

But here I am arguing against the weighted games we already have, not finding ways to make game values even more unequal.

[JetsFlamesFan]

With the previous playoff format, there still existed the possibility of a team with less points than an opponent having home ice advantage. It will always be that way as long as you have division winners seeded first. The only way to get rid of it is to go by points. As a fan, I would love to see a 1 thru 16 seeding to allow any possible matchups, but I know they'll probably never do it. Or at least have 1 thru 8 seeded by points in each conference so we'd still end up with more rivals playing each other in the East and West. I kind of like it right now that there is a high possibility of Flames-Canucks Flames-Oilers type matchups, but it could get tiresome after a few years. So yeah, I guess I'd prefer a 1-8 seeding east and west or 1-16 overall seeding. Just my opinion.

[Tiger]

I like the set up as is creating lots of rivalries in the first two rounds that pour over into the regular season as well. Some people argue the 1-16 seeding or the Danish first seed picks their opponent systems ( which would be fun). People say you get a chance at rivals meeting in the final if it was 1 through 16 seeding. Now it's impossible to get a Boston Montreal final for example so the cup final will really never have a bitter rival. But by making the change to non division set up it will take a lot of the rivalry out of the first two rounds just for the chance there is more in the final. The change I would make is there is no wild card spots so everybody plays in their division. (For example with one point different flames would be in central and Nashville in the pacific) I'd eliminate that so that if the two wild card spots are represented by two the two divisions they stay in their division (Rangers play Washington instead of montreal) and if two teams from one division have the two wildcard spot then the lower (or higher) one does crossover to the division.

Sorry. A bit rambling there. It's really only a minor tweak.
The only tweak I really want to see is all star games team decided by throwing sticks

[tsquared1967]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

a bit off topic but also a complaint

Why isn't there an afternoon game tomorrow? It's a holiday and the first round is the best time to showcase the sport all day long!

Blues-Wild at 2pm would be better than running parallel with everything else at 6pm.

Cause Christians observe the death of Christ at 3 pm on Good Friday. The only church service for the day.

[FireGilbert]

Originally Posted by tsquared1967

Cause Christians observe the death of Christ at 3 pm on Good Friday. The only church service for the day.

Nothing to do with the church service. As I mentioned in the OOT thread it was actually not a federal holiday in the US (although it is a state holiday in some states). Americans think they have the best country on earth yet they don't even get an Easter long weekend.

[tsquared1967]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

Nothing to do with the church service. As I mentioned in the OOT thread it was actually not a federal holiday in the US (although it is a state holiday in some states). Americans think they have the best country on earth yet they don't even get an Easter long weekend.

If I was told I was playing in the afternoon I would decline. Jewish players don't play on Jewish holidays all the time.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by tsquared1967

Cause Christians observe the death of Christ at 3 pm on Good Friday. The only church service for the day.

Oh, but they'll keep playing during the Olympics?

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by Tiger

I like the set up as is creating lots of rivalries in the first two rounds that pour over into the regular season as well. Some people argue the 1-16 seeding or the Danish first seed picks their opponent systems ( which would be fun). People say you get a chance at rivals meeting in the final if it was 1 through 16 seeding. Now it's impossible to get a Boston Montreal final for example so the cup final will really never have a bitter rival. But by making the change to non division set up it will take a lot of the rivalry out of the first two rounds just for the chance there is more in the final. The change I would make is there is no wild card spots so everybody plays in their division. (For example with one point different flames would be in central and Nashville in the pacific) I'd eliminate that so that if the two wild card spots are represented by two the two divisions they stay in their division (Rangers play Washington instead of montreal) and if two teams from one division have the two wildcard spot then the lower (or higher) one does crossover to the division.

The conference set up did create rivalries in the first 2 rounds and that poured over into the regular season as well. Chicago-Detroit will be the strongest SC rivals with either the conf. or division setup. The 3rd round/conf. finals has a lot of the rivalry taken out of it because of the current set up. Battle of Alberta, Pennsylvania, Rangers-Isles, Kings-Ducks, and other div rivals would be epic in round 3.

Another way would be for the 1st round to crossover the 2 divisions from each conf. It could create new playoff rivals and renew old ones. Flames-Bhawks would've fun to renew and Preds-Ducks was good last year for a revenge match this year. The Rangers-Habs is a good historic rivalry and Leafs-Caps is exciting because it's the first time.

[powderjunkie]

League wide:

1 vs 14
2 vs 4
3 vs 17
5 vs 11
6 vs 15
7 vs 9
8 vs 10
12 vs 13

EC:
1 vs. 8
2 vs 3
4 vs 5
6 vs 7

WC:
1 vs 8
2 vs 6
3 vs 7
4 vs 5

Two series out of whack. Of course the second round sucks for metro too, but those 3 teams needed to get through each other one way or the other...the process is just mixed up.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

Counter arguments so far:

- No matter what the system is, it's totally fair as long as everyone knows what the format is from the start.

- If you get decimated by injuries, you shouldn't be considered a good team even if you win loads of games when you get healthy again.

- No pro league does something, so it must therefore be bad.

- A picture of Oprah Winfrey.

- I'm gonna call something "crazy gibberish" and "ridiculous" without explaining why.

Not exactly off to a flying start here guys...

As opposed to your argument: