Get rid of wildcard spot

[NHL Dude 120]

Dumb idea or not but instead of the two wildcard spots why not just have top 4 teams in each division make the post season?

Currently in the Atlantic the top four are

Florida

Toronto

Ottawa

Tampa

Have 1v4 and 2v3 no need for wildcard spot.

Could make rivalries more fun and intense since there's more chance of consistent rivalries. I remember the 2013 sens vs Habs series make hate Montreal alot. Think what a Battle of Ontario could do.

Out west we could get Battle of Alberta and Vegas vs Kings. Bettman would be grinning from joy.

Edit: soo top 4 teams in each of the four Divisions would make it in no wildcard spots. Meaning 16 teams qualify.

Click to read more...

 

[Nemesis Prime]

NHL would never.

Less games, less money.

 

[NHL Dude 120]

NHL would never.

Less games, less money.

Ah crap I wrote it wrong I mean top 4 teams in each division.

 

[Whoot Whoot]

If anything, we will see them adding more = more revenue

 

[JoeSakic13]

Dumb idea

Yup

 

[syz]

Consistent rivalries have been proven boring at this point tbh. Go back to 1-8. Nobody wants to see Oilers/Kings again.

 

[Goose]

If you whisper this idea down an abandoned well at midnight you’ll have a better chance of seeing it brought to life than suggesting this to the NHL.

 

[x Tame Impala]

The Wildcard spots account for differences in strength of division.

 

[JoeSakic13]

If you whisper this idea down an abandoned well at midnight you’ll have a better chance of seeing it brought to life than suggesting this to the NHL.

Instructions unclear. Now trapped in well.

 

[BB79]

Consistent rivalries have been proven boring at this point tbh. Go back to 1-8. Nobody wants to see Oilers/Kings again.

I disagree.

Ironically, if we went back to 1-8 right at this moment guess who the Oilers would be playing? You can't make this up

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Instructions unclear. Now trapped in well.

 

[Greatzsky 99]

Consistent rivalries have been proven boring at this point tbh. Go back to 1-8. Nobody wants to see Oilers/Kings again.

Thats what i would like to see to, WC is just a headache to follow in the standings also.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Consistent rivalries have been proven boring at this point tbh. Go back to 1-8. Nobody wants to see Oilers/Kings again.

I really doubt the market research supports this. Rivalry games drive ratings, and in the long term they build the identity of a team generation over generation. Whereas the most random matchups, say two nonconference opponents with no history against each other, are where you see the most empty seats.

To the OP, the biggest argument against this is that often the divisions are imbalanced. This change would lead to a worse #4 team making the playoffs over a better #5 team in the other division. It’s probably preferable from a TV standpoint — in West currently it would change things from EDM/COL and WPG/CGY to instead be EDM/CGY and WPG/COL. But from a competitive standpoint, teams and owners want to see the better team get into the spot they’ve earned.

 

[DEANYOUNGBLOOD17]

Tried before…… in the 1980s and 90s …..

It was changed because it sucked aaa

The Smyth Division was stacked and powerful and the first 2 rounds in the Smythe was the best hockey of the year.

The Norris was a joke and every year.consisted of mostly beer league teams.

And that was when there was only 21 teams and only 5 teams missed the playoffs

 

[BruinLVGA]

Get rid of the Divisions, keep Conferences, do the playoffs 1-8.

OR

If you want to make it spicy, have 1-6 be straight up qualified for the playoffs, then before the playoffs proper have 7-10 do a best of 5 series (7vs10, 8vs9) with the winners of each series being qualified in spot 7 and 8.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Dumb idea or not but instead of the two wildcard spots why not just have top 4 teams in each division make the post season?

Currently in the Atlantic the top four are

Florida

Toronto

Ottawa

Tampa

Have 1v4 and 2v3 no need for wildcard spot.

Could make rivalries more fun and intense since there's more chance of consistent rivalries. I remember the 2013 sens vs Habs series make hate Montreal alot. Think what a Battle of Ontario could do.

Out west we could get Battle of Alberta and Vegas vs Kings. Bettman would be grinning from joy.

Edit: soo top 4 teams in each of the four Divisions would make it in no wildcard spots. Meaning 16 teams qualify.

They had that, issue is teams with fewer points in one conference, sometimes get in. Thankfully they dumped that method.
I like that it’s no longer that way.

Currently there is always a 2 vs 3 matchup in each division, and a chance at 1 vs 4.