Iron Mike Sharpe
Registered User
- Dec 6, 2017
- 962
- 1,294
There has never been a perfect playoff format, and no amount of tinkering will make it perfect. The current system is likely the best we've had since the O6 era. With the wild card spots, at least you're not artificially elevating teams that don't deserve to be in the playoffs: only one team this year that was in the top 16 regular season finishes didn't make the playoffs (Calgary). The Panthers ended up being 11th overall this year and are likely to win it again, and the 10th overall Hurricanes just took out the 2nd overall Capitals. I'm not sure what people expect: regardless of who any given team faces in any given round, the more competitive playoff team prevails. There are upsets every year no matter the format; there are always odds-on favorite teams that have trouble getting by teams perceived to be lesser by fans & media; there are cakewalks and tough series, but the team that endures 4 rounds and walks away with the Big Prize, no matter who they beat or how they get there, is always going to be the most deserving.
I think it's mostly just sour grapes from fans of teams that get knocked out. Why not just do away with the playoffs and have the 1st and 2nd place teams play each other, why bother with all the other teams? Is that what people would prefer? Ridiculous. You draw the team you draw, and if you can't defeat your opponents, that's on your team, not on the format.
I think it's mostly just sour grapes from fans of teams that get knocked out. Why not just do away with the playoffs and have the 1st and 2nd place teams play each other, why bother with all the other teams? Is that what people would prefer? Ridiculous. You draw the team you draw, and if you can't defeat your opponents, that's on your team, not on the format.