With the NHL season coming to an end, the playoff picture for all teams has been set. In the first round, the Habs are matched up against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and this will be a fiery round. However, this leaves a bitter taste in my mouth as I find teams should be rewarded for a fantastic regular season.
If we focus on the Habs and the Lighting specifically, this match up sucks given their dominance over the season. Because of the NHLs obsession with divisions and rivalries, teams who win are often penalized with insanely hard opening rounds.
If the format was logical, the Habs would be matched up versus the Pittsburg Penguins. They have a very good team, but no one can deny that they would rather plays the Pens, than the Lightning, who have an abundance of riches at every position, goaltending included.
The Lighting would be matched up against the Boston Bruins if the seeding was 1-8. Again, Boston has a great team, but objectively speaking, everyone would rather play the Bruins in the opening round instead of the Montreal Canadiens. Especially after such a great regular season.
This whole division crap needs to stop. Top teams need to be rewarded for winning during the season, not tasked with taking each other out in the opening round.