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Its looking like the wildcard race in the East is going to be exciting

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Schennanigans said:
Would you guys be against expanding the playoffs to two more teams. There’s some good teams that will miss the playoffs and deserve a spot or would this devalue the playoffs with too many teams. It could also help with having different playoff matchups.
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How would you make that work though, without someone getting a bye?

Also, it’s not just that it devalues the playoffs, it devalues the regular season too. Right now you have 5 or 6 teams essentially playing playoff hockey the rest of the way to try to snag the last WC spots up for grabs.

College football used to have the most exciting regular season in all of sports as 1-2 losses eliminated most teams from championship contention. Now that there’s a 12 team playoff, that weekly tension of high stakes RS games has been lost.
 
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Coach Reggie Dunlop said:
I think it devalues the playoffs personally
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To me it's the opposite. It devalues the regular season. It becomes easier to get in, so you can still get your shot at the Cup without actually putting in the effort of being a top 8 team in your conference.

The playoffs still only has one winner and it's damn hard to play that many games at that level, so more teams just means more attrition and injuries from a play in tournament or however they'd do it.
 
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Nogatco Rd said:
Also, it’s not just that it devalues the playoffs, it devalues the regular season too. Right now you have 5 or 6 teams essentially playing playoff hockey the rest of the way to try to snag the last WC spots up for grabs.
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Strong disagree. You'd just add more different 'tiers' or races. Fighting for the play-in spots, fighting for divisional seeds, fighting for home ice. Less teams playing meaningless games.
geebster said:
To me it's the opposite. It devalues the regular season. It becomes easier to get in, so you can still get your shot at the Cup without actually putting in the effort of being a top 8 team in your conference.

The playoffs still only has one winner and it's damn hard to play that many games at that level, so more teams just means more attrition and injuries from a play in tournament or however they'd do it.
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In NHL history it's never been harder to make the playoffs. I don't see how it's good for a single person who is a fan of sports for teams to have 10+ years outside the playoffs.
 
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Pavels Dog said:
In NHL history it's never been harder to make the playoffs. I don't see how it's good for a single person who is a fan of sports for teams to have 10+ years outside the playoffs.
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You could have a 28 team playoff and the Sabres would be on the outside looking in this year.

They’re a terribly run organization, those exist in every sport and it’s not something that gets fixed by adding more playoff spots.
 
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Yikes

Scott MayfieldDTue, Feb 4Lower BodyExpected to be out until at least Feb 7
Mathew BarzalCTue, Feb 4Lower BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Mar 8
Semyon VarlamovGSat, Feb 1Lower BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 23
Ryan PulockDSat, Feb 1Upper BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 23
Marcus HogbergGSat, Feb 1Upper BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 23
Hudson FaschingRWThu, Jan 30Upper BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 7
Mike ReillyDMon, Jan 27ChestIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 23
Noah DobsonDMon, Jan 27Lower BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 25


Only the bolded weren't on opening night starting line up
4 Opening night Dmen
Our best player
Our 2nd and 3rd string goalies
 
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Pavels Dog said:
In NHL history it's never been harder to make the playoffs. I don't see how it's good for a single person who is a fan of sports for teams to have 10+ years outside the playoffs.
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I think this is a good argument for relegation. If a team goes that long being bad they should drop into the AHL and we should give a team that cares about managing their franchise and winning up there instead. (I realise this doesnt actually work, but I'd prefer it if it did).

There are Leafs fans who were born after their last cup and died of old age already. Being a fan is a choice, and is often a poor one for our mental health. We do it anyways though and are better than bandwagoners for it.
 
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Sens9292 said:
Has no clue. As a Senators fan, I’ll enjoy the battle for 1-3 in the division.
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Look there's a long way to go, but it sure does feel good seeing BOTH the Wings and Sens above the Lighting and Bruins in the standings. I've been waiting for the changing of the guard in the Atlantic
 
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If they averaged 1 pt per game the rest of the season

Washington - 106
Carolina - 96
Toronto - 95
Florida - 94
New Jersey - 93
Ottawa - 90
Tampa - 90
Detroit - 89

Columbus - 87
Boston - 87
NY Islanders - 86
NY Rangers - 84
Montreal - 84
Pittsburgh - 80
Philadelphia - 80
Buffalo - 78

Rangers have a lot of work to do.
 
Nogatco Rd said:
You could have a 28 team playoff and the Sabres would be on the outside looking in this year.

They’re a terribly run organization, those exist in every sport and it’s not something that gets fixed by adding more playoff spots.
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This year yes, but they missed by just a point 2 years ago.

16 teams have made it to the postseason since the league had 21 teams. Yeah, I agree in 1981 you missed the playoffs by being a horrible team. But in 2025 you can't really argue that Detroit's an amazing team and Tampa or Columbus is a terribly run organization.

geebster said:
To me it's the opposite. It devalues the regular season. It becomes easier to get in, so you can still get your shot at the Cup without actually putting in the effort of being a top 8 team in your conference.
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The NHL simply doesn't consist of 16 bonafide playoff teams that all "put in the effort", and 16 non-playoff teams that are clearly and obviously not good enough and don't deserve a chance. It's much murkier than that.

With the league's focus on parity and draft lotteries to discourage tanking the only puzzle piece left to fill in is expanded playoffs. That would solve the league's biggest issue right now; the "mushy middle" being such an awful place to be in.
 
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MattMartin said:
Yikes

Scott MayfieldDTue, Feb 4Lower BodyExpected to be out until at least Feb 7
Mathew BarzalCTue, Feb 4Lower BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Mar 8
Semyon VarlamovGSat, Feb 1Lower BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 23
Ryan PulockDSat, Feb 1Upper BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 23
Marcus HogbergGSat, Feb 1Upper BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 23
Hudson FaschingRWThu, Jan 30Upper BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 7
Mike ReillyDMon, Jan 27ChestIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 23
Noah DobsonDMon, Jan 27Lower BodyIR. Expected to be out until at least Feb 25


Only the bolded weren't on opening night starting line up
4 Opening night Dmen
Our best player
Our 2nd and 3rd string goalies
Click to expand...

I guess Lucky for The Islanders we are going on a 2 week break. lol
 
Pavels Dog said:
Strong disagree. You'd just add more different 'tiers' or races. Fighting for the play-in spots, fighting for divisional seeds, fighting for home ice. Less teams playing meaningless games.

In NHL history it's never been harder to make the playoffs. I don't see how it's good for a single person who is a fan of sports for teams to have 10+ years outside the playoffs.
Click to expand...
makes regular season exciting as heck tho (for some teams). feels like playoffs right now as wings fan
 
MVP of West Hollywd said:
If they averaged 1 pt per game the rest of the season

Washington - 106
Carolina - 96
Toronto - 95
Florida - 94
New Jersey - 93
Ottawa - 90
Tampa - 90
Detroit - 89

Columbus - 87
Boston - 87
NY Islanders - 86
NY Rangers - 84
Montreal - 84
Pittsburgh - 80
Philadelphia - 80
Buffalo - 78

Rangers have a lot of work to do.
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Yea they obviously got a serious hill to climb…they’re also entirely capable of doing it, assuming they stay healthy.

It’s less about can they do it and more about are they willing to do it.

If they dont get in…they earn every bit of the public humiliation that comes with it
 
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Schennanigans said:
I feel like Montreal, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are out of this race.
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Philly and Pittsburgh were never really in the race. The Habs were in a wildcard spot but have crumbled under the added pressure since. Habs will fall more and when the pressure to compete is off they will start winning again. Like MSL said earlier, their young players are still learning what it takes to win when the pressure to win is on.
 
Tampa being a real bastard to Ottawa, and maybe the Wings tomorrow.

df719a5b-0cbe-4d85-9626-208681da79ad_text.gif
 
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Tampa's last 2 games vs OTT showed why they're still Top 3 in the Atlantic. Both close games (till the last 5 mins last night) but their experience shows in games like that. See them doing the same vs DET.

Boston is falling out and based on their season so far, I don't see them making it.

Ottawa and Detroit are better teams right now, even if Detroit's underlying numbers seem misleading (they're still winning the games).

I see both of them claiming the wildcard spots unless the Rangers somehow make a big late-season surge.
 
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