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Playoff Format

Masked said:
It isn't needed. If you're not one of the top four teams in your division, you shouldn't be in the playoffs. If you're just competing against the conference as a whole, why bother even having divisions?
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St. Louis - 5th in the Central, with 84pts

Calgary - 4th in the Pacific, with 82pts

No, you're right, the Blues are shit outta luck, being 5th and all. Gotta give those 4th place teams a shot!
 
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If I had the magic power to change the playoff format, 1v16 is what I'd pick.

But I recognize that there's borderline zero major support for that, so I'm not going to let perfection be the enemy of good. Bring back 1v8.
 
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Dr Pepper said:
St. Louis - 5th in the Central, with 84pts

Calgary - 4th in the Pacific, with 82pts

No, you're right, the Blues are shit outta luck, being 5th and all. Gotta give those 4th place teams a shot!
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That's right. The fourth best team in a division deserves a playoff spot versus the fifth best team in a different division. Team play their schedules based upon their division and they should be judged against the other teams in their division.
 
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Masked said:
That's right. The fourth best team in a division deserves a playoff spot versus the fifth best team in a different division. Team play their schedules based upon their division and they should be judged against the other teams in their division.
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Disagree I like the option of possibly 5 from one division, in the years one division is stronger than the other. No use letting teams in with less points.
 
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I actually like the current system just fine. I like the set bracket. I like the rivalries it pushes. I like the wildcard making sure the best teams get in, even if they're from the same division. And I like that the travel is less of an impact so early.

It's fine. Leave it alone.
 
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I've said it before but I could definitely believe the argument that the current playoff format drives total viewership of the playoffs above the old 1 vs. 8 with reseeding format. It ends up with you getting some premier matchups in the first and second rounds, then as the playoffs go on, people are more likely to continue tuning in because the stakes are inherently higher the deeper in the playoffs you are.

As far as fairness of format from a sporting perspective, I don't think it really matters. It's a single-elimination tournament designed to crown a champion and only a champion. At the end of it, the champion will have won all four of their playoff series, so the order in which they face them is kind of a wash.
 
MrLunatik said:
meh. I prefer the divisional format as I believe that's how the best rivalries are built... but when we're reached the point where there is only 3 BoA matches this year, I'm not sure how much longer real rivalries will exist.
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Rivalries are basically a fool's gold. And a very heavy price to pay for extremely unbalanced playoff seeding in some years.
 
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Keep the conferences separate, for each conference playoffs division winners get seeded 1 and 2, the remaining 6 spots are all wildcard, matchups follow 1v8, 2v7, etc., reseeding after each round.
 
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Just do a modified 1v8 with the division winners occupying the top two seeds rewards winning your division while also allowing the best teams to face eachother later in the playoff instead of rounds 1 or 2. The conference finals should be the most exciting series besides the cup finals and it should allow the best teams to have a fair chance to fight it out there.

Still remember the #1 and #2 Jets and predators were stuck facing eachother in a brutal 7 game series in the second round only for Vegas to beat the winner after facing much weaker competition in that pacific division
 
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1 vs 8

Top TEAM in each DIVISION are SLOTTED 1 - 2. (Home ice is the reward for being atop of your division and get the two bottom teams)

The other 6 teams by record.
 
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MrLunatik said:
meh. I prefer the divisional format as I believe that's how the best rivalries are built... but when we're reached the point where there is only 3 BoA matches this year, I'm not sure how much longer real rivalries will exist.
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When it was implemented, I liked the idea of the way it currently done for this reason but it hasn't worked out as planned. The reason, I think, is we don't play enough times between each other during the season for it to matter. Back in the day you would play your rival 8 times on top of preseason then by the time you met in the playoffs you were already sick of each other. It hasn't been like that in ages now
 
Masked said:
Who the hell thinks that Toronto-Montreal, Battle of Ontario, Battle of Alberta, Montreal-Boston, Rangers/Islanders/Devils/Flyers, LA-Anaheim, Battle of Pennsylvania, Battle of Florida, etc are tired matchups?
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In an ideal world, yes, you'd get these match ups frequently. Which would be fun. Problem is it's a crapshoot the teams will all be good at the same time. Even if they were, as fun as Toronto/Montreal would be, that'd still get boring 3-4-5 times in a row. Same with Calgary and Edmonton or Rangers/Flyers.

At some point, any series gets boring if it's the same teams again and again and again.
 
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They should do a hybrid of this format and the previous one.

Keep the 4 divisions, but only the division winners get the top two seeds. The remaining 6 spots are arranged by points regardless of division.
 
I'm sure not fussy about a play-off scenario this year that sees Minnesota, should they beat Las Vegas, play the western division 2-3 winner, while the central division slugs it out between 1, 2, 3 and WC (St Louis). No advantage in having the points.
 
For the sake of this thread, this would be the playoff matchups if we had the old 1-8 format.

(1) WSH - (8) MTL
(2) TOR - (7) NJ
(3) TB - (6) OTT
(4) CAR - (5) FLA

(1) WPG - (8) STL
(2) VGK - (7) MIN
(3) DAL - (6) EDM
(4) LA - (5) COL

As you can see, both 1v8 matchups and VGK-MIN would stay the same. I miss when the playoffs were in this format.
 
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Bourne Endeavor said:
In an ideal world, yes, you'd get these match ups frequently. Which would be fun. Problem is it's a crapshoot the teams will all be good at the same time. Even if they were, as fun as Toronto/Montreal would be, that'd still get boring 3-4-5 times in a row. Same with Calgary and Edmonton or Rangers/Flyers.

At some point, any series gets boring if it's the same teams again and again and again.
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I agree, especially since fighting, bad blood, and brawls aren't what they were decades ago. Teams don't hate each other like they used to.
 
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Machinehead said:
Yeah 1-8 sounds nice but have you considered all these fresh and exciting matchups we haven't seen before?

View attachment 1014210
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Those are 3 great matchups. The current system is completely fine, although any version of 1-8 either fixed or reseeded is fine too.

Absolutely not to any gimmicky "choose your opponent" type format -- not something that a serious professional league does.
 
NYRfan85 said:
For the sake of this thread, this would be the playoff matchups if we had the old 1-8 format.

(1) WSH - (8) MTL
(2) TOR - (7) NJ
(3) TB - (6) OTT
(4) CAR - (5) FLA

(1) WPG - (8) STL
(2) VGK - (7) MIN
(3) DAL - (6) EDM
(4) LA - (5) COL

As you can see, both 1v8 matchups and VGK-MIN would stay the same. I miss when the playoffs were in this format.
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This would be waaaaaaay better
 
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