No Plan to Change Playoff Format - Bettman

[Curufinwe]

If they would go with 1v8 then they need to scrap the divisions have just two conferences. I would be okay with that

No they don't.

We had 1-8 with two divisions in each conference for many years and it worked well. Reseeding after each round made regular season points mean more. It's not just about the first round matchups.

 

[Summer Rose]

If you're in the US, subscribe to YoutubeTV from April - June. Then cancel. No contract. $83 x 3 = ~$250 and all playoff games are nationally televised on channels in the subscription.

You could technically do this with SlingTV's Orange package for $46/mo, but you don't get TruTV, which will probably carry a few first round games. And you'd have to rely on an antenna for ABC games.

After this year, I'll honestly probably just do YouTubeTV during the playoffs and ESPN+ year round. Comes out to about $30/mo, and I'll just have to miss TNT/ESPN regular season games.

This is an amazing suggestion! I think I'll do just that.

 

[kvladimir]

No they don't.

We had 1-8 with two divisions in each conference for many years and it worked well. Reseeding after each round made regular season points mean more. It's not just about the first round matchups.

We did, but it made no sense, especially when it was 8 games per divisional opponent. The relative strength of each division made that weighting, and subsequent seeding as a conference, a joke.

It would be far less of an issue if this change was made with the current division alignment and schedule (where 2 division opponents for every team every year only get 3 games instead of 4, so that all 8 teams from the other division within the conference get 3 games per year), but that's another debate whether or not that schedule format is appealing.

Personally, any time I see only 3 games on the calendar for MTL/BOS, NYR/NYI, LAK/ANA, TBL/FLA, etc, I throw up in my mouth

 

[Cloned]

Eliminating half the elite teams in the first round because of this format is how you’ll end up with a Jets vs Sens SCF.

I’d like to hear his comments if that happens lol.

 

[njdevils1982]

lockouts, trapazoid, shootouts, this playoff format, games in europe, 4 nonsense tournament (two week break)

all on his clock

 

[NYRfan85]

My dream is to one day see a 1v16, 2v15 etc format, but I know that's never, EVER going to happen because of travel reasons.

But I really hate the current divisional format and want the conference format back. It's asinine to have a scenario where two of the league's best teams play in the same division, and they wouldn't get to play each other in the conference final. The conference finals should provide the opportunity for the two best teams in the conference to eventually meet for the chance to play for the Cup.

Also, I'm really tired of seeing EDM-LA in the first round. The only chance we get at seeing cross-divisional matchups in the first two rounds is with the two Wild Card teams.

 

[westc2]

I think they should just change it to 2 conferences. East and West. This is what the NBA and MLS do.

No need for the divisional breakdown anymore with 32 teams and 82 games, where it's required that each team plays each other at least twice. The math just doesn't math, but Gary doesn't get it.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

Classic Bettman, too stubborn, arrogant and/or flippant to make any change unless he is forced or needs to. I suspect if the NHLPA really wants to go back to 1v8, it will be a CBA negotiation point.

 

[voyageur]

Eliminating half the elite teams in the first round because of this format is how you’ll end up with a Jets vs Sens SCF.

I’d like to hear his comments if that happens lol.

It'll never happen. I was at the Vegas game earlier in the year where the Golden Showers needed a phantom call to tie up the game, even with a PP. Jets had them locked down.

 

[Cloned]

It'll never happen. I was at the Vegas game earlier in the year where the Golden Showers needed a phantom call to tie up the game, even with a PP. Jets had them locked down.

I guess that’s the great equalizer.

 

[Dr Pepper]

man I love playing Boston or Tampa literally every single round 1

To be fair, if the Leafs ever managed to win their own division more than once in a blue moon* (or whenever it's not a special-edition, all Canadian version), they'd probably see more variety in first round opponent.

But instead they're always the bridesmaids, never the bride, so they're pretty much tethered to Tampa or Florida or whoever the 2/3 seed happens to be until that changes.

That said, I would very much prefer going back to the 1v8 system that used to be in place, with division winners getting the top two seeds.

*Seriously though. Won the North division in 2021 in that shortened COVID season, before that it was the 99/00 season, and before THAT you'd have to go alllllll the way back to 1963.

| NHL Records

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Classic Bettman, too stubborn, arrogant and/or flippant to make any change unless he is forced or needs to. I suspect if the NHLPA really wants to go back to 1v8, it will be a CBA negotiation point.

Maybe his next lockout he'll make a change. That's what it took for him to finally do something about the clutching and grabbing during the dead puck era.

 

[gstommylee]

To be fair they are also blacking out the entire playoffs in every market.... so it probably doesn't matter too much.

playoff games are national tv games... always has been

 

[Bgav]

what a joke

 

[voyageur]

Classic Bettman, too stubborn, arrogant and/or flippant to make any change unless he is forced or needs to. I suspect if the NHLPA really wants to go back to 1v8, it will be a CBA negotiation point.

It's the TV networks that pay these players well that want this format I guarantee you. If you watch March Madness, it's controlled, all the rounds of the tournament are controlled in their start times to ensure you can watch them at different times without overlapping. Which increases the audience you can broadcast to.

The networks definitely want Pacific and Mountain time zone teams to have a structure that allows for them to be in the right time slot to be broadcast as double headers. More people watching = more revenue. Not only that but the current format ensures that Pacific and Mountain time zone teams will be in the 2nd round of the playoffs at a guaranteed start time that ensures that they can be broadcast after Eastern time zone games are done. It's not a crapshoot.

Last year we actually saw some changes, where the Canucks going into Nashville was a 6:30 CST start, followed by the Oilers being 9 pm start in L.A. Worked great for Rogers, so they could back to back the two series.

It's the 6 CST teams that throw a loop in the format. Chicago Blackhawk fans didn't like being put in that 8:30 time slot I'm sure. Jets fans don't really like it, but we're the smallest market so what say do we have. It's made worse in a 1-8 scenario because you can't control the outcomes at all. Could have no Pacific or Mountain time zone starts by round 2, depending on who is the home team on a given night. Would be worse if Detroit was still in the West. But that's gone by the time you reach round 3. Because you play on alternating nights. First two rounds are dictated by TV. And fans of the old format don't matter as much as the networks who pay for the service fans get.

 

[Golden_Jet]

To be fair they are also blacking out the entire playoffs in every market.... so it probably doesn't matter too much.

Uhh that never happens.

 

[um]

My dream is to one day see a 1v16, 2v15 etc format, but I know that's never, EVER going to happen because of travel reasons.

But I really hate the current divisional format and want the conference format back. It's asinine to have a scenario where two of the league's best teams play in the same division, and they wouldn't get to play each other in the conference final. The conference finals should provide the opportunity for the two best teams in the conference to eventually meet for the chance to play for the Cup.

Also, I'm really tired of seeing EDM-LA in the first round. The only chance we get at seeing cross-divisional matchups in the first two rounds is with the two Wild Card teams.

Travel and time zone reasons.

I don't want to have my team play a playoff game at 10 pm on a Tuesday.

 

[Oogie Boogie]

Sakes

 

[Golden_Jet]

Only fair way in terms of travel is 1-16 but that's so random it will never happen again.

That will never happen again, east coast teams starting at 10-10:30, would hurt viewership numbers,
Just not a good idea.

 

[Lt Dan]

The playoff format is worse than gonorrhea

 

[Summer Rose]

It's the TV networks that pay these players well that want this format I guarantee you. If you watch March Madness, it's controlled, all the rounds of the tournament are controlled in their start times to ensure you can watch them at different times without overlapping. Which increases the audience you can broadcast to.

The networks definitely want Pacific and Mountain time zone teams to have a structure that allows for them to be in the right time slot to be broadcast as double headers. More people watching = more revenue. Not only that but the current format ensures that Pacific and Mountain time zone teams will be in the 2nd round of the playoffs at a guaranteed start time that ensures that they can be broadcast after Eastern time zone games are done. It's not a crapshoot.

Last year we actually saw some changes, where the Canucks going into Nashville was a 6:30 CST start, followed by the Oilers being 9 pm start in L.A. Worked great for Rogers, so they could back to back the two series.

It's the 6 CST teams that throw a loop in the format. Chicago Blackhawk fans didn't like being put in that 8:30 time slot I'm sure. Jets fans don't really like it, but we're the smallest market so what say do we have. It's made worse in a 1-8 scenario because you can't control the outcomes at all. Could have no Pacific or Mountain time zone starts by round 2, depending on who is the home team on a given night. Would be worse if Detroit was still in the West. But that's gone by the time you reach round 3. Because you play on alternating nights. First two rounds are dictated by TV. And fans of the old format don't matter as much as the networks who pay for the service fans get.

The old format can also suck for fans going to the game. I remember our 2012 playoff series against Nashville, a team based in the central time zone, having 5:00 or 6:00 start times (Arizona is three hours behind eastern time come playoff time due to not observing DST). Our first round series was also against a central time zone team (Chicago) but I didn’t make it to any of the home games of that series. I also made it to game 5 of the conference finals against LA, which I think was also a 6:00 start time, presumably because they didn’t want it to start too late for viewers in the eastern time zone.

However, teams almost always sell out playoff games for the reason that they’re playoff games. It’s all about maximizing TV viewership, which the current format does better than the old one. Then the BOG is going to reasonably conclude “the fans want this” because of the increased viewership, whether we actually do or not. Of course, HF often has opinions that are held by the majority of the site’s users, sometimes even overwhelmingly so, that are actually a minority opinion (and sometimes a tiny minority) among the actual collective NHL fan base. We’re pretty hardcore fans simply by being here in the first place, but we have to remember that we’re often not the target demographic of things that the NHL does. For example, all star weekend is overwhelmingly unpopular on HF, but a bunch of us watch anyway (and complain about it) and we’re not who’s being targeted by it.

 

[Djp]

To be fair they are also blacking out the entire playoffs in every market.... so it probably doesn't matter too much.

I believe right now it’s just round 1 where for 4 games there is local rights exclusivity. Previously it was the first 2 rounds


The question is conference vs division and more teams in playoffs.

Do you mean "fair" or do you mean "best" for travel? Because if it's the latter, the best format would be an 8 geographical division format with a heavily weighted schedule toward divisional games. Think:

D1: VAN, SEA, CGY, EDM
D2: SJS, LAK, ANA, VGK
D3: UTH, COL, MIN, WPG
D4: CHI, STL, NSH, DAL
D5: DET, TOR, BUF, OTT
D6: BOS, MTL, PIT, CBJ
D7: PHI, NJD, NYI, NYR
D8: TBL, FLA, CAR, WSH

6 games vs Division, 4 games vs. 1 other Division (D1+2, D3+4, D5+6, D7+8), 2 vs. every other team.

Again, only prioritizing travel here

van, sea, slc, sj
Dal, la, ana, lv
Cgy, edm, wpg, min
Nash, car, fla, Tb

Chi, stl, det, cbs
Car, was, pit, Phil
Nj, nyr,nyi, bis
Mon, tor, ott, buff

 

[nofehr]

My dream is to one day see a 1v16, 2v15 etc format, but I know that's never, EVER going to happen because of travel reasons.

But I really hate the current divisional format and want the conference format back. It's asinine to have a scenario where two of the league's best teams play in the same division, and they wouldn't get to play each other in the conference final. The conference finals should provide the opportunity for the two best teams in the conference to eventually meet for the chance to play for the Cup.

Also, I'm really tired of seeing EDM-LA in the first round. The only chance we get at seeing cross-divisional matchups in the first two rounds is with the two Wild Card teams.

I agree - it's totally ridiculous. Right now #3 Dallas would have to play #8 Colorado in the first round, while #10 Edmonton gets #11 LA, and #4 Carolina gets #13 NJ.

Dallas' reward if they get by #8 is to get #1/2 Winnipeg.

Ridiculous!

I don't care about time zones - I want the best teams playing each other in the later rounds.

 

[kvladimir]

I believe right now it’s just round 1 where for 4 games there is local rights exclusivity. Previously it was the first 2 rounds


The question is conference vs division and more teams in playoffs.

van, sea, slc, sj
Dal, la, ana, lv
Cgy, edm, wpg, min
Nash, car, fla, Tb

Chi, stl, det, cbs
Car, was, pit, Phil
Nj, nyr,nyi, bis
Mon, tor, ott, buff

I see your ^that, and raise you:

(same schedule format)

1: ANA, LAK, SJS, VGK
2: VAN, SEA, CGY, EDM
3: UTH, COL, DAL, STL
4: WPG, MIN, CHI, NSH
5: DET, TOR, BUF, CBJ
6: BOS, MTL, CAR, OTT
7: PIT, WSH, NJD, PHI
8: NYI, NYR, TBL, FLA

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

The playoff format honestly may be even worse than the league continuing to punt 3 on 3 rule changes to prevent keep-away.

Everybody knows it needs to change, and nobody will change it for 5-10 years.

NHL leadership is short sighted and lazy. Best sport, worst professional league as many say.