New York Rangers get hosed in a new playoff model

There’s a new playoff format proposal that appears to be gaining traction. It’s not good for the New York Rangers.

With absolutely no way to predict what is going to happen to the suspended hockey season, the only thing you can be sure of is that there will be hockey if the NHL is able to continue the season.   For the New York Rangers, one popular proposal has them on the outside of the playoffs, looking in.

Mark Spector of Sportsnet in Canada filed a report today that provides some hints into what the NHL is considering.  Sportsnet is owned by Rogers Media and is the national rights holder for the NHL in Canada, so if anyone knows whats going on, it is Sportsnet.

Among the headlines in the story is the fact that as many as 12 teams are bidding on the right to host a mini-tournament when and if hockey resumes. Those cities would have to be able to handle from 600-1,000 people in a COVID-19 free zone with hotels, restaurants and practice facilities as well as arenas for games.  No cities in pandemic hot spots would qualify so major cities like New York, Boston and any city in California would be ruled out.

So far, the front runners appear to be Winnipeg, Edmonton and Columbus.

What about the Rangers?

While the NHL is desperate to get some regular season games played, if that is impossible, there is one format being floated and it screws the Rangers.  Here’s the description from Sportsnet:

“Assuming no regular season games get played, the most popular playoff scenario is the following: The Top 6 teams from each Division meet in one city. They would open with best-of-three series between the No. 1 and 2 seeds (to decide a Division winner), while No. 3 meets 6 and 4 meets 5 for the right to keep playing.”

Since the Rangers sit in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division with 79 points,  they would not qualify for the tournament.  The Islanders are one point better with 80 and have played two fewer games and would be the one team in the Met currently outside of the playoff bubble that would continue playing.

Is that fair?  Not to the Rangers.  The non-playoff teams from the Atlantic Division that would get to keep playing include Buffalo, Montreal and Florida, all with fewer points than the Blueshirts.

In the West, non-playoff teams with fewer points than the Rangers that would continue to play include Anaheim, Arizona, Vancouver and Minnesota .

The NHL has never done any favors for the Rangers and if they adopt this format, it just is another example of the Blueshirts getting hosed by the NHL.

If they do this

If the NHL adopts this format, the Rangers will scream bloody murder,but it won’t do any good.  The Blueshirts, one point out of a playoff spot when play was suspended will have to watch as a team like Anaheim with 12 fewer points and eight fewer wins gets a chance to go deep in the playoffs (they won’t).

There’s only one thing that league can do to make it fair for the New York Rangers.  That would be to take the seven teams on the outside of the playoff bubble and give those teams an equal shot at the top pick in a draft lottery.  A one in seven shot at drafting Alexis Lafreniere, the consensus number on pick in the Entry Draft, would be a fair way to compensate the Rangers for getting screwed out of a chance at the playoffs.  Even if they don’t win the top pick, a top seven pick would go a long way towards making it more palatable.

Don’t hold your breath.