The longest postseason & statistical weirdness
This could be the longest postseason in history for teams like the New York Rangers
While the format for the playoffs has not been finalized, the New York Rangers may have to win more postseason games than any other team in NHL history in order to hoist the Stanley Cup. Not only that, how the NHL has classified the qualifying round will lead to some strange statistics.
For the last 33 years the requirement to win the Cup has been consistent. A team must win four best-of-seven series in order to be NHL champions. It could take a maximum of 28 games to do it, but the Stanley Cup puzzle was complete if a team won 16 times. This year, it could be different.
Let’s make one thing clear. The format is not determined and will probably be set when the league knows when the playoffs will start. There has been talk about the first two round as best-of-five series with the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals as best-of-seven series.
This is not unheard of. Before 1987, the preliminary round was a best-of-five series and for a while it was even a best-of-three. The league went to an all best-of-seven format in the 1986-87 season and has stuck to it. Blue Line Station did a deep dive into the importance of winning the first game of a best-of-five series last week.
The key to winning a best-of-five series. light. Related Story
You can be sure that in this bizarro world we live in, the NHL will do their best to replicate the traditional format and will try for four best-of-seven series. If they do and a team from the qualifying round goes all the way, it means winning 19 games and playing as many as 33 postseason contests.
How long does it take?
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a marathon, taking as long as nine weeks to conclude with a maximum of 28 games. Not only were the St. Louis Blues in last place overall at the beginning of January, but their championship run last year is even more remarkable as it took them 26 playoff games to do it. That’s ties them with the 2014 L.A. Kings for the most postseason games for any championship team since the league went to the four best-of-seven series format.
The Blues needed seven games to eliminate the Dallas Stars in the second round and the Boston Bruins in the Finals. In the other two rounds, they won in six games. For the 2014 Kings, they played three seven-game series before beating the Rangers in five games in the Finals.
Over the last few yeas, the tendency for the playoffs to go long has been increasing. In the last six years, the champion has had to play at least 23 playoff games Compare that to the first 12 years of the 28 maximum game format when only the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins (24 games) and the 1994 Rangers (23 games) took played that many.
Statistical weirdness
The league has been careful to call the best-of-five qualifying round precisely that, a round to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In that case, any statistics from those games should be considered regular season records, but the league has decided that they are Stanley Cup Playoff records. Gary Bettman proclaimed that the regular season is over, meaning the qualifying round is in limbo….not in the playoffs, but not in the regular season. The league will have a boatload of asterisks to hand out after this is over.
That means that in the strange 2019-20 NHL, a player could score a goal in the qualifying round, but lose and never play in the playoffs the rest of his career. In that case, he would have scored one playoff goal, despite playing no playoff games. Weird.
The desire to proclaim the regular season over means no shot at 50 goals for Alexander Ovechkin. No 100 point season for Connor McDavid. For the Rangers, it means Artemi Panarin loses his chance for a 100 point season.
What about this scenario? Let’s say that in the qualifying round, Mika Zibanejad continues his end-of-season torrid scoring pace when he scored nine goals in his last five games. If he did that in a qualifying round that went five games, he would finish with 50 goals on the season, only the fourth Ranger to accomplish that. But where would this season fall in the Rangers records book?
But let’s not stop there. it would also mean that he would have more goals this season than either David Pastrnak or Ovechkin in non-playoff games. And he still would have done it in fewer games (62) than Pastrnak (68) or Ovechkin (70). But no Rocket Richard Trophy for our intrepid Swede.
But if the Rangers lose in those five games, Zibanejad’s record would include nine playoff goals in zero playoff games. That would make for a helluva goals per game average.
These are uncharted waters for the NHL and they are making a lot of decisions that can seem questionable. To this observer, the need to proclaim the regular season over is a clear indication that there is sincere doubt that the qualifying round will even happen.
How long it took to win
Here’s how long it took for every team to win the Stanley Cup since the 1986-87 season.
26 games: St.Louis- 2019; Los Angeles– 2014
25 games: Pittsburgh – 2017; Boston – 2011; Carolina – 2006
24 games: Washington – 2018; Pittsburgh – 2016, 2009, 1991; Tampa – 2004; New Jersey- 2003
23 games: Chicago – 2015, 2013; Detroit – 2002; Colorado – 2001; New Jersey – 2000; Dallas – 1999; Rangers – 1994
22 games: Chicago – 2010; Detroit – 2008, 1998; Colorado – 1996; Edmonton – 1990; Calgary – 1989
21 games: Anaheim – 2007; Pittsburgh – 1992; Edmonton – 1991
20 games: Los Angeles – 2012; Detroit – 1997; New Jersey – 1995; Montreal – 1993
18 games: Edmonton – 1988
More. What the Rangers lost. light