Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce
Good God...
It seems pretty apparent that the quality of play and the way the game is played now is superior to what I grew up with. But there's still some tweaking to be done with points, ROW, shootouts, etc.
I'm also up for experimenting with a new playoff format. Do away with divisions completely - I'm not really sure what the significance of divisions is anyway. Take the top-16 in the NHL and match them accordingly. The reason being that I, perhaps I'm in the minority here, often find the Stanley Cup match up pretty underwhelming: Carolina v Edmonton; Anaheim v Ottawa. You're more likely, at least theoretically, to have two rivals play each other in the final. I mean, isn't that why, at least partly, fans love the early rounds of the playoffs? Invariably I've long tuned out of the playoffs by the time the final comes round.
I don't recall when, but I'm pretty sure they did the playoffs that way in the late-60s and the 70s. A more hardcore fan than I can verify that.
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You are correct - that format (1-16 overall) did exist, but only briefly, in the 2 seasons between 1979-1981.
The problem with that system is travel as teams could potentially face long travel scenarios in the early rounds, the thought being that would be a disadvantage for later rounds.
Just for fun, the current standings (as of 26-March) would produce these playoff matchups under the 1-16 format. Note that the 4 division winners would get the seeds 1-4 in the first round.
(1) Washington vs (16) Boston
(2) Chicago vs (15) Toronto
(3) Montreal vs (14) St Louis
(4) Anaheim vs (13) Nashville
(5) Columbus vs (12) Calgary
(6) Pittsburgh vs (11) Ottawa
(7) NY Rangers vs (10) Edmonton
(8) Minnesota vs (9) San Jose