Paul McCann: The NHL Playoffs - Leave 'em alone!

still have to beat everyone to win the cup. so for me the way it is is fine. i did like in the old (really old) day when 1 played 16, 2 / 15 and so on. can you imagine a calgary/ edm or a pitt/ wash or philly, mont / bost, nyr / nyi cup final?????

If I'm an owner, and have paid my dues and built a contender, I want to reap the rewards. It is only fair that the teams with the best records should have the highest odds of getting to the conference final and benefiting from the additional revenue associated. No way that its fair that an also ran team gets an easier path through just through luck of the draw.

If you don't want to watch a powerhouse team beat up a lesser skilled team in the first round, then i would suggest less teams get in period.

The playoff system is just fine, please NHL, quit tinkering with everything & leave things that aren't broke, alone!

Rivals will always be there.

1-8 seeds in the conference. Reseed after round one is complete. 1-4 seeds in round two.

When there are two teams left in each conference, combine the 4 teams and seed them 1-4. 1 plays 4, 2 plays 3. Could be inner-conference or not. Two winners play each other for the Cup. Championship could be inner-conference, perhaps inner-divisional.

To me this is the best way to find a true champion without super crazy travel.

I’m sorry, but I watch a lot of NHL hockey and have for about 25 years now. There is no easy path to the cup and rarely do you see 1st round ass kickings anymore. The league is so balanced with all the talent and intensity levels. Sometimes, great teams squeak in or get left out of the playoff picture due to injuries or some other factor. Vegas swept the kings last year and on paper it was 4-0, but all 4 games could have gone either way, that’s how tight the games are. The NHL playoffs are great and giving weight to regional play in my opinion is still important. It’s not that I fear change, but it’s hard for me to see how any of the changes the NHL floats around makes it better. Just my opinion. However, the person above who suggested juggling the final four teams by record and not conference sounds kind of fun.