Since the 70’s we have had sixteen teams make the playoffs, 21 teams- 16 Make it. As expansion evolved and teams moved, the format has changed several times. From the divisional semis and finals to conference playdowns, there has been a case to be made for each format until the current one.

Take the Atlantic division today, arguably the best division in the game and one of the top teams in the NHL will be gone first round, same in the Metropolitan. This isn’t the most optimalfor the competitive nature of the game. The fan base of all the teams deserve the best teams at the end.

There have been arguments over the years that divisional matchups create good rivalries and matchups and I don’t entirely disagree. Wouldn’t it be cool if some of these traditional rivals- BOS-MTL, EDM-CGY, PHI-PIT, etc could theoretically happen in a Stanley Cup final. I’m not sure how a Dallas- Florida Final would drive the storylines that the rivalries would.

One of the main drivers of the divisional breakdowns for playoff series was travel. These decisions were made when travel was a different animal than today. Lots flew commercial and were at the mercy of scheduling. Back and forth from the east coast to west coast over a seven game series was grueling. Air travel has come a long way over the last 40 years and itstime to do this right.

- 20 teams qualify

- TOP 12 get BYE through play in round

- 13-20 play A BEST OF 3 to get to 16 teams

- Based on regular season record 1-16-2-15-3-14 and so on

- Re-seed after each round

OR

- Traditional 16 teams qualify and play same format 1-16, 2-15 and so on

- Put a mileage threshold that if a certain distance between teams in a matchup is reached, play a 2-3-2 format

Looking at todays standings the first round matchups would be:

BOS- PIT    CAR-WPG    NJ-NYI   TOR-COL    VEG-EDM    LA-SEA     DAL-MIN     TB NYR

Pretty intriguing- no brutal travel matchups!

Jon MacWilliams (Coach Jonny Mac)      

The 6IXth man/ Center ICE            OLDE CITY SPORTS NETWORK