What is your perfect NHL?

[Hennessy]

84
16
32

Also, 3 point system.

 

[JianYang]

One with curt hennig

 

[MasterofGrond]

96 teams across 3 levels with promotion and relegation (4 team relegated/promoted)

62 game season (home and homes versus all 31 other teams). Starts October 1, regular season ends approximately the end of February. Playoffs start mid-March and end mid-May

W/L/T system resurrected, with 10 minute 4 on 4 (or 3 on 3 I don't care) OT (with no OTL point)

16 team playoffs (1-16 seeding), 7 game series

8 team H2H relegation playoff (25-32, 26-31 etc.) 7 game series loser goes down, Played between the regular season and playoff to give playoff teams a little extra chance to recover.

Draft abolished, salary cap stays, rookie contract salary limits abolished, RFA system abolished

Team ownership model implemented similar to the Bundesliga 50+1 system.

 

[cowboy82nd]

96 teams across 3 levels with promotion and relegation (4 team relegated/promoted)

62 game season (home and homes versus all 31 other teams). Starts October 1, regular season ends approximately the end of February. Playoffs start mid-March and end mid-May

W/L/T system resurrected, with 10 minute 4 on 4 (or 3 on 3 I don't care) OT (with no OTL point)

16 team playoffs (1-16 seeding), 7 game series

8 team H2H relegation playoff (25-32, 26-31 etc.) 7 game series loser goes down, Played between the regular season and playoff to give playoff teams a little extra chance to recover.

Draft abolished, salary cap stays, rookie contract salary limits abolished, RFA system abolished

Team ownership model implemented similar to the Bundesliga 50+1 system.

So, are you trying to kill the league? Sounds like you miss soccer.

 

[NYRfan85]

- Cut preseason games down to 3 or 4 games per team, and every team plays the same number of preseason games. All preseason games are neutral-site.
- Regular season starts the first week of October and ends the first week of April.
- Go back to the point system where every game only counts for two points, ditch the shootout, and bring back ties. 2 points for any type of win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for any type of loss.
- If the NHL insists on keeping the shootout, then go to the PWHL/IIHF point system. 3 points for regulation win, 2 points for OT/SO win, 1 point for OT/SO loss, 0 points for regulation loss. We have to incentivize teams to win in regulation, and not just coast around waiting for OT, and this ensures every game is worth 3 points, regardless of the result.
- Get rid of coaches challenges for offsides. I'm so tired of seeing goals called off because someone's skate blade was 1/16" offside. I'm fine with challenging for goalie interference though.
- Get rid of the trapezoid. Let the goalies roam free, and if they get hit/knocked down outside of the crease, it's fair game and their own fault.
- Go to a league-wide 1-16 playoff format. Travel be damned, they can deal with it. Top 4 seeds are the division winners, and 5-16 are wildcards. I want to see some big rivalries happen in the final two rounds. I hate divisional playoff format, where the top teams could face each other in the second round!

 

[BTO]

What is your perfect NHL?

 

[Sniper99]

Season starts 2nd week in September
82 game season
1 vs. 8 playoff format
Finals end in May

34 teams 1 back in Phoenix in the city too so we dont have to hear the whining about driving 1 place to another for a game when fans of other teams probably drive further, 1 in Quebec City, (Yeah yeah save it with all that shit discussed in the other thread)

Salary cap stays
3vs3 and shootout in regular season stays.

 

[McSpecial DraiBlend]

The one where Toronto has to play at the the home teams regular time slot.

 

[MasterofGrond]

So, are you trying to kill the league? Sounds like you miss soccer.

soccer, but with a cap would be a much fairer system to the average player.

 

[Habs 4 Life]

Bringing back the Nordiques, Whalers and the old division rivalries we had going on back in the 80's-90's

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

The one where Toronto has to play at the the home teams regular time slot.

They do for every team except Vancouver.

 

[Golden_Jet]

NATIONAl Hockey League, there absolutely should Not ve any Canadian Teams.

You mean the nation that started the original hockey league NHA. Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal x 2. They were nice enough to let their southern friends join in after a bit.

 

[cowboy82nd]

Bringing back the Nordiques, Whalers and the old division rivalries we had going on back in the 80's-90's

And where would the Whalers play?

 

[Figgy44]

3 point system. Flights over 3 hours done by Concorde like planes to attempt to even the playing field in terms of travel time for East vs West teams.

 

[McSpecial DraiBlend]

They do for every team except Vancouver.

Oilers as well.

 

[biturbo19]

Giant Round Robin season. Every team plays every other team twice. Once at home, once on the road. Works out to ~60 games which is still a little bit too long, but i think it'd be okay because there's not much repetition. And it at least cuts it down from the currently way too long schedule by a decent margin.

Then have the playoffs go back to the 1v8 2v7 3v6 4v5 seeding, regardless of divisions or anything. No need to expand or contract the playoff pool. But that seeding would help better promote more interesting later round matchups, compared to the current format that mostly pops off in the first round and gets worse and less interesting with each round thereafter.

 

[Tawnos]

For games against your division, emphasize series type scheduling. Ex, NYR @ NYI on Friday, then play again Sunday.

I'm fine with most of your other ideas, but I hate this one a little bit. 4 games against divisional opponents when at least 2 of them are going to be on the same weekend means often going months without seeing that opponent. That's the situation we're in now and it annoys the hell out of me.

There's a 3.5-month gap between the Rangers 1st game against the Islanders this season and their 2nd.
They don't even play the Devils until December. And then there's a 3 month gap between their 3rd and 4th meetings.

The league wants to build divisional rivalries, but that's almost impossible to do when the teams go so long without seeing each other. My version of the schedule had them playing 6 times, and I'd rather mandate 1 meeting per month than see them play home-and-home sets.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

If you are caught using steroids or cocaine, you are given a raise and a complimentary filet mignon dinner

Is that what you were taking when you made this post?

 

[Bench Clearer]

Is that what you were taking when you made this post?

Yes, but never enough of either.

 

[varsaku]

If we stick with 32 teams. No conferences or divisions. You could reduce the down the regular season to 62 games with a home and away against each team.
The top 16 teams qualify with 1 vs 16 and so on.

The regular season would become more meaningful since the schedule is balanced.

 

[tarheelhockey]

The current number of teams doesn’t bother me, but in an absolutely ideal situation it would be lower. A 16-team league would be pretty perfect from the standpoint of concentrating talent so that every team has a star and most teams have multiple stars.

Given that setup:

- 16 teams, 2 conferences, 4 divisions
- 64 game schedule - 6x divisional rivals, 4x conference rivals, 2x other conference
- Top 2 teams in each division play off for the division title. Division winners play off for the conference title, then the conferences play for the Stanley Cup
- Regular season starts in early November, ends in late March. Playoffs start in early April, end in mid-May.

- Standings are a W-L format, straight up.
- 5-round shootouts, like god intended
- Review only to determine whether the puck fully crossed the line, and whether time was on the clock. All other review GTFO
- All Star Game and Winter Classic are a single combined event
- Every team plays 4 games in “neutral” markets, 2 of them overseas. Each team has a domestic market where it plays as the home team every year (e.g. Habs always in Quebec City).
- Maybe not cut off entirely, but distance gambling from league operations including advertising
- Participate in the Olympics. In non-Olympic years, the World Cup is played in October.

 

[Sentinel]

Twenty four teams. Barely enough talent to go around.

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

The current number of teams doesn’t bother me, but in an absolutely ideal situation it would be lower. A 16-team league would be pretty perfect from the standpoint of concentrating talent so that every team has a star and most teams have multiple stars.

Given that setup:

- 16 teams, 2 conferences, 4 divisions
- 64 game schedule - 6x divisional rivals, 4x conference rivals, 2x other conference
- Top 2 teams in each division play off for the division title. Division winners play off for the conference title, then the conferences play for the Stanley Cup
- Regular season starts in early November, ends in late March. Playoffs start in early April, end in mid-May.

- Standings are a W-L format, straight up.
- 5-round shootouts, like god intended
- Review only to determine whether the puck fully crossed the line, and whether time was on the clock. All other review GTFO
- All Star Game and Winter Classic are a single combined event
- Every team plays 4 games in “neutral” markets, 2 of them overseas. Each team has a domestic market where it plays as the home team every year (e.g. Habs always in Quebec City).
- Maybe not cut off entirely, but distance gambling from league operations including advertising
- Participate in the Olympics. In non-Olympic years, the World Cup is played in October.

this is pretty good, provided my favorite team makes the cut in the top 16 (they wouldn't). I'm not a fan of the World Cup and wish that there was a way the NHL could somehow make a tournament of a different format and that players want to win as bad as the Cup/Olympics, although I have no idea how to do that.

 

[tarheelhockey]

this is pretty good, provided my favorite team makes the cut in the top 16 (they wouldn't). I'm not a fan of the World Cup and wish that there was a way the NHL could somehow make a tournament of a different format and that players want to win as bad as the Cup/Olympics, although I have no idea how to do that.

I think the most important thing is simply to have some form of best-on-best international tournament every year.

I wish the World Championships would swallow their pride and move to the summer.

 

[Machinehead]

-20 teams, 10 each.
-The schedule is 9 x 4 and 10 x 2 for a total of 56.
-5 make the playoffs in each division.
-4v5 have a best of 3 play-in, with all three games in 4's arena.
-The rest of the playoffs is 5 game series. 7 is honestly obnoxious and the playoffs doesn't need to be 10 weeks of our lives.
-Hot take: I'm fine with the points system. A win is a win and you get a point for losing the gimmick. All games being the same value is arbitrary.
-Overtime is 3v3 until somebody scores. f*** the shootout.
-The salary cap: signing new players is full cost, re-signing acquired players is 50% AAV, re-signing homegrown players is 25% AAV.
-RFA status is abolished. Their cap hit is 75% less if you drafted them -- that's your advantage.
-The cap floor is set at 90% of the cap ceiling. If you wanna buy an NHL team, you have to invest money into it.
-Games start on-time.
-You'll notice the season is very short. Spend that time playing against European clubs. Spend more time playing international hockey. Canada and the United States should play each other regularly. Give me something different.
-New Year's Day is the big day for hockey like Christmas in the NBA. A quadruple-header of huge matchups, all outdoors.
-Offside and the puck crossing the line should be determined by a computer in real-time. It's f***ing 2025.
-Do that thing where you start accruing points when you get eliminated and the team with the most points gets the 1OA. That's fun.
-Speaking of fun, the trade deadline is after the play-in. Let the real contenders swing for the fences.