NHL’s Flawed Playoff System Failing the League Once Again

While we don’t normally focus on the NHL over the New York Rangers here at Blue Line Station, we feel this is too important of a topic to ignore. The NHL’s current playoff system is flawed beyond belief, and this season must be the last of the current format.

The NHL is enticing teams to lose on purpose. No one would ever admit it, but it was more evident than ever last April, when the New York Islanders started Christopher Gibson in their last game of the season. The Islanders would have faced the Pittsburgh Penguins in the postseason with a win, but instead played the inferior Florida Panthers thanks to their loss.

The Islanders went on to defeat the Panthers in the first round, while the New York Rangers, who played their regulars in a victory over the Detroit Red Wings in the last game of the season, were gifted with a first round exit at the hands of the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

New York’s teams hammered home a point that has lingered since the NHL changed playoff formats. The format not only begs for teams to lose on purpose, but it forces rivalries down our throats, and prevents the best of the best from playing each other late in the playoffs.

2016:

We already discussed the Islanders and Rangers’ debacle, but there were far more gripes than just that. In the old playoff format, the matchups would have been:

1 seed Capitals vs. 8 seed Red Wings

2 seed Panthers vs. 7 seed Flyers

3 seed Penguins vs. 6 seed Lightning

4 seed Rangers vs. 5 seed Islanders

So, the Rangers and Islanders would not have been playing their final games of the season to try to avoid the Penguins in the first round. They would have instead been playing for home ice in their first playoff meeting since 1994. Instead, the NHL took that away, giving the league the all-important Panthers-Islanders matchup. For….reasons?

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• Jacque Plante Trade Tree Between the Rangers and Canadiens
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The Washington Capitals had a gripe in that they would have been gifted with a far easier second round matchup than the Pittsburgh Penguins. Say the Capitals, Panthers, Penguins, and Rangers all won, the Capitals would have faced the depth-lacking, void of defense Rangers rather than the Penguins.

Sure, the Capitals would have likely faced the Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals, but they would have done so having finally reached the Eastern Conference, and having a much easier road than what they were handed in reality.

Additionally, Pittsburgh’s road would have been far more difficult, potentially wearing them down.

The NHL should be focused on putting together the correct matchups, not buzz-matchups for ratings purposes.

2017:

The league should expect to face similar issues this season. The current playoff matchups as of pre-game 1/23 would be:

Metropolitan 1. Washington Capitals vs. 8. Philadelphia Flyers

Metropolitan 2. Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Metropolitan 3. Pittsburgh Penguins

Atlantic 1. Montreal Canadiens vs. 7. New York Rangers

Atlantic 2. Ottawa Senators vs. Atlantic 3. Boston Bruins

In the old format, the current matchups would be:

1. Washington Capitals vs. 8. Boston Bruins

2. Montreal Canadiens vs. 7. Philadelphia Flyers

3. Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 6. Ottawa Senators

4. Montreal Canadiens vs. 5. New York Rangers

The NHL would not only still get their marquee Canadiens-Rangers first round battle, but it wouldn’t be forced by the league. Additionally, the league would avoid a forced, fake “rivalry” matchup between the Senators and Bruins, failing to reward the teams for being in a bad division.

Instead, Boston would be tasked with the powerhouse Capitals, and the Senators would get the defending champion Penguins. As it stands now, the NHL is punishing the Metropolitan Division for being better than the Atlantic Division. Only one of the Capitals, Blue Jackets, or Penguins can make the Eastern Conference Finals, despite the trio of teams owning the most points in the entire NHL.

Washington’s reward for being the best team in hockey would be a second round matchup against the second or third best team in hockey as it stands today. The Rangers have zero reason to try to move out of their current standing, as instead of joining their Metropolitan colleagues, they would join the Atlantic bracket.

This means if the Rangers defeated the Canadiens in the first round, their trip to the Eastern Conference Finals would go through the Bruins or Senators. Which team wouldn’t intentionally sign up for that?

The current playoff format is a complete disgrace, as it forces poor matchups into play, and prevents legitimate, exciting matchups from happening late in the postseason.

Next: Matching the Rangers to Mighty Ducks Movie Characters

With the Las Vegas Golden Knights due to join the NHL after the season, the league has an excuse to change formats once again. The league must change back to the old format, or they will continue to harm their own product.