Playoff Format

[Hollywood3]

I for one am sick of those who complain about divisional playoffs. IMO the divisions are about as balanced as you're likely to find. (It usually seems to be just Toronto media who do this.) IAE, I sorted teams by points % and here are the 1-16 match-ups as of today:

Washington v New Jersey
Winnipeg v Calgary
Dallas v Ottawa
Vegas v St. Louis
Los Angeles v Minnesota
Carolina v Tampa Bay
Colorado v Edmonton
Toronto v Florida

Here are the 1-8 match-ups in each conference:

Winnipeg v St. Louis
Dallas v Minnesota
Vegas v Edmonton
Los Angeles v Colorado

Washington v Montreal
Carolina v New Jersey
Toronto v Ottawa
Florida v Tampa Bay

Here are the current wild-card format match-ups:

Winnipeg v St. Louis
Dallas v Colorado
Vegas v Minnesota
Los Angeles v Edmonton

Washington v Montreal
Carolina v New Jersey
Toronto v Ottawa
Florida v Tampa Bay

BTW, Toronto media, the Leafs would have faced the Bruins in the 1st round of any format.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

 

[Divine]

People miss the whole point where they say it's 'mostly balanced'. No one wants 'mostly balanced' when completely balanced in an option.

Tell Colorado that they're starting as the road team against Dallas while LA/EDM compete for home ice with fewer points.

Every year you'll have a team with more points starting on the road against a tougher opponent while another team with fewer points starts at home against a weaker team.

Under a 1-8 format based on current standings:

Both Edmonton and LA should have tougher opponents.
Both Colorado and Dallas should have weaker opponents.

Four teams - 50% of the Western bracket - is unbalanced due to this format just this year. The East looks balanced for now, but that doesn't mean the system isn't flawed. Second in the Atlantic could finish with more points than second in the Metro (1 point separates them) and have to play a stronger team as a result of this bracket instead of a 1-8.

 

[Mr Nogatco]

I for one am sick of those who complain about divisional playoffs. IMO the divisions are about as balanced as you're likely to find. (It usually seems to be just Toronto media who do this.) IAE, I sorted teams by points % and here are the 1-16 match-ups as of today:

Washington v New Jersey
Winnipeg v Calgary
Dallas v Ottawa
Vegas v St. Louis
Los Angeles v Minnesota
Carolina v Tampa Bay
Colorado v Edmonton
Toronto v Florida

Here are the 1-8 match-ups in each conference:

Winnipeg v St. Louis
Dallas v Minnesota
Vegas v Edmonton
Los Angeles v Colorado

Washington v Montreal
Carolina v New Jersey
Toronto v Ottawa
Florida v Tampa Bay

Here are the current wild-card format match-ups:

Winnipeg v St. Louis
Dallas v Colorado
Vegas v Minnesota
Los Angeles v Edmonton

Washington v Montreal
Carolina v New Jersey
Toronto v Ottawa
Florida v Tampa Bay

BTW, Toronto media, the Leafs would have faced the Bruins in the 1st round of any format.

Yeah funny how little difference 1v8 makes.

In that same vein, I found it interesting that a 3-2-1 points system would have resulted in almost zero change to the standings/playoff seedings the last few years. IIRC one first round matchup would have had home ice advantage reversed, no other changes.