Eklund: Would The NHL Be Better With a 4/5 Play-in Game? Buzz @1
- Eklund

No.

The entire season was against divisional opponents.

You don't need a best of 3 or 5 or something to erase what happened over 56 games.
- Aetherial

Correct.

deleted

I am older....I remember when 16 of 21 teams made the playoffs.....11 new teams, still 16?
New Format:
Each division gets 3 spots....then the two playin games in the conference
7/10 - 8/9 playins for both conferences
Tuesday at home of 10seed (and 9 seed).....then thursday and friday at home of 7 (best of 3)

The in division 2/3 games can be played Saturday
And the 1 seed's starts Sunday against the winners of the playins

This pushes the playoffs back only 3 days......brings in a little extra revenue and should make the last weeks of the regular season more meaningful...again...filling buildings and bringing in more revenue
I have been suggesting this for years....but with the Revenue shortfall its time to make it happen

I am older....I remember when 16 of 21 teams made the playoffs.....11 new teams, still 16?
New Format:
Each division gets 3 spots....then the two playin games in the conference
7/10 - 8/9 playins for both conferences
Tuesday at home of 10seed (and 9 seed).....then thursday and friday at home of 7 (best of 3)

The in division 2/3 games can be played Saturday
And the 1 seed's starts Sunday against the winners of the playins

This pushes the playoffs back only 3 days......brings in a little extra revenue and should make the last weeks of the regular season more meaningful...again...filling buildings and bringing in more revenue
I have been suggesting this for years....but with the Revenue shortfall its time to make it happen
- Tornado Mark

Dumb.

And I suppose you think the Oilers are a deserving team? The Oilers have not faired much better against Montreal and Calgary.
- enortap2

They have 70 points. Mtl and Wpg are both waffling around fake .500. At least the Jets have a legitimate winning record (for now) at 28 and 26 but mtl with 24 wins and 31 losses doesn't have any business at all being in any sort of post season whatsoever. Shouldn't even be allowed to talk about it, but Vancouver Calgary and Ottawa couldn't get their guff together and there's no crossover rule so have a free pass.

I am older....I remember when 16 of 21 teams made the playoffs.....11 new teams, still 16?
New Format:
Each division gets 3 spots....then the two playin games in the conference
7/10 - 8/9 playins for both conferences
Tuesday at home of 10seed (and 9 seed).....then thursday and friday at home of 7 (best of 3)

The in division 2/3 games can be played Saturday
And the 1 seed's starts Sunday against the winners of the playins

This pushes the playoffs back only 3 days......brings in a little extra revenue and should make the last weeks of the regular season more meaningful...again...filling buildings and bringing in more revenue
I have been suggesting this for years....but with the Revenue shortfall its time to make it happen
- Tornado Mark

i hate it

I'm sorry but Calgary, New York, Dallas and Arizona don't deserve a play in. Including Overtime losses all of those teams are well below .500. It does a disservice to the regular season having play in games.

Dallas is the closest but they won a whopping 23 games....

This is bogus. Pens started slow as hell and ended up winning the division. This is a pretty bad idea. The teams in deserved it. I didn't even like how many teams they made do a play in last year. It was insane.

Another neat idea to avoid any hurt feelings is 1 versus 32...2 versus 31...3 versus 30...and so on. So after an entire season of failure, you still have a chance, and can still raise a participation banner in the following home-opener. What say you kids?

I stopped reading when Calgary was considered legit.

Enough teams make the playoffs Do not need marginal teams just because.
Those teams you mentioned are where there at for a reason, they are just not good enough. If it ain't broke there is not need to fix it.

Dumb.
- TurdFergeson

DOUBLE DUMB not to mention STUPID. Lets do a year that everyone gets a Stanley Cup and make everyone happy. STUPID and there is no cure for STUPID

Eklund: Would The NHL Be Better With a 4/5 Play-in Game? Buzz @1
- Eklund

No. The playoffs already include too many mediocre teams.

And I suppose you think the Oilers are a deserving team? The Oilers have not faired much better against Montreal and Calgary.
- enortap2

I think based on his opinion he doesn’t think any of the teams in the North should be in the playoffs

No. Just No.

This is so stupid. If everyone makes the playoffs why even bother with the regular season? The regular season is already way to long.. when its almost pointless as you have a 50/50 shot of making it anyway, and the league has such parity its basically a big waste of time . Expanding it just makes it even worse. Im sick of this dumb bs. making drastic changes just to finacially support teams in stupid locations. We now have league parity, a salary cap which is a punishment to all the fans which support their fav team, and 3point games. It's getting out of control.

Also .. good job nhl.. Montreal will make the playoffs even though 1 maybe even 2 teams in the north will have more wins because the stupid loser point.

This is so stupid. If everyone makes the playoffs why even bother with the regular season? The regular season is already way to long.. when its almost pointless as you have a 50/50 shot of making it anyway, and the league has such parity its basically a big waste of time . Expanding it just makes it even worse. Im sick of this dumb bs. making drastic changes just to finacially support teams in stupid locations. We now have league parity, a salary cap which is a punishment to all the fans which support their fav team, and 3point games. It's getting out of control.

Also .. good job nhl.. Montreal will make the playoffs even though 1 maybe even 2 teams in the north will have more wins because the stupid loser point.
- Hockey777

What do you think about the AHL champ from the previous year playing the lowest #4 team? It would be nice for their feelings. Anything can happen in a single game. Hi kids.

Last year was fun, but aside from divisions needing to be rectified for the season, let’s just go back to normal.

I had a lot of fun with the craziness of last season’s playin/playoffs, but I’m ready to stop messin with normalcy and go back for this postseason.

I agree overall that this is nonsense and the regular season is the play in round, I wouldn't add anymore slots to the playoffs.

But I find it funny that so many people take issue with the loser point. I understand this philosophically, but I think we often forget that a loser point occurs because a team has been beaten at 3v3 or shootout hockey.

How come nobody ever questions overtime wins and values those to a lower degree than a team that earned their points in regulation.

To hold loser points against a team is a bit ludicrous, as the losing team was bested in a skills competition, not in a format that in any way resembles playoff hockey.

Resounding NO!!!

Over half the league ales the playoffs now. Lets cut it down. Top 6 in each conference and while we are at it, go back to ties in the regular season. 2 points for a win 1 for a tie and loser gets nothing

Our whole society is upside down.

Losing is how you get better, mistakes are how you learn to get better. I understand that an 8yr old cries when they lose and has trouble dealing with losing, but what the hell has happened to all of our adults? Life doesn't give you 3rd and 4th chances (usually not even 2nd chances).

People need to stop trying to change the rules whenever they lose and they have to start getting better so they can compete.

Our whole society is upside down.

Losing is how you get better, mistakes are how you learn to get better. I understand that an 8yr old cries when they lose and has trouble dealing with losing, but what the hell has happened to all of our adults? Life doesn't give you 3rd and 4th chances (usually not even 2nd chances).

People need to stop trying to change the rules whenever they lose and they have to start getting better so they can compete.
- JLO961

Yeah but what about legit teams that just didn't get off to a good start? If they are better than the #4 team then they deserve a chance.

Calgary is legit Ek? They aren't even a .500 team.

Why not just let every team in Ek? Heck why even have a regular season Ek? Just have a playoffs from the start and randomize who plays who, and halfway thru have a trade day so you can make up more nonsense! Everyone wins right?