…‹In this edition of the hotstove, we share our thoughts on whether the NHL should expand the playoffs when they bring Seattle into the league and have 32 franchises.
Todd Cordell
I don't think the playoffs should be expanded, even if only to include a couple more teams and have a play-in for a wild card spot.
I'm completely on board with it in baseball because few teams actually qualify for the playoffs and they have to be successful over 162 games to get there. In the NHL, more than half the league makes it as is. That's plenty. We really don't need the 18th placed team in the regular season playing meaningful games in mid-April.
I get why people in hockey would want it – extra revenue, job security for 'making the playoffs', etc. – but I think the playoffs are big enough as is.
Adam French
Gee. A group of people with a job wherein making the playoffs is basically the way to avert being fired...are advocating to increase their chances of making the playoffs...WELL IMAGINE MY SHOCK. Who faxed this one in? Chia or Snow? Call Eugene's Bajan number, this has the potential for making some more revenue if anybody bothered to show up to the arena.
The playoffs are for the best of the best. 16 teams in a 32 team league is half the freaking league. It's already working fine as it is so don't break it.
I'm against changing the playoff format and the number of teams. We need more rivalries and hatred.
James Tanner
Not only am I against this idea, but I think it's incredibly stupid. It's based on pure greed and nothing else. The NHL used to have way too many teams make the playoffs, which made the regular season a complete waste of time.
Back in the 80s, only five teams every year would miss the Playoffs (and the Leafs still couldn't hack it most of the time), but with expansion, the NHL has made their regular season almost as valid as baseball's.
With half the team's missing, it actually matters how you do over 82 games and it keeps those games interesting. If you expand the amount of teams that make it, you're reducing the value of those 82 games. You can't lessen the amount of games either, because it ruins the record book.
Adding more playoffs will take the league into late June or July, and that's also idiotic. There is no good way do it, logistically, and there is no good reason to do it. It is not just dumb, but painfully dumb.
This is just not a good idea anyway you slice it. I hate this idea more than I hate most ideas the NHL comes up with, and that is saying something because most of the NHL's ideas are terrible.
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