How could the NHL handle a return for the playoffs?
4 years ago
There have been numerous reports that the NHL is considering a 24 team playoff as a solution to the NHL having to potentially shorten its season. Last week, I wrote about different ways that the league could have handled the remainder of their regular-season schedule but with the CDC recommending that all gatherings of more than 50 people be avoided for another eight weeks, that really eliminates the possibility of playing any more regular-season games.
There are also reports that there are some around the league that want to play into September. That would obviously change the way the league handles things but for today, I want to focus on potential ways that a 24 team tournament would play out.
The NHL needs to get creative if they want to hand out the Stanley Cup this season, which is something Gary Bettman has said that they will do. The Commissioner has also said that he will not do something that forces the league to change the schedule for next season. He wants the 2020/21 campaign to go on as normal. That makes dealing with the 2019/20 season even more difficult. So what options does the NHL have?
24 TEAM TOURNAMENT
Mar 9, 2020; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Las Vegas Golden Knights center Nicolas Roy (10) shoots the puck against Edmonton Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen (19) during the third period at Rogers Place. Golden Knights won the game 3-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Walter Tychnowicz-USA TODAY Sports
This will mean that each conference will put 12 teams into the playoffs. Option one for a 24 team tournament would be to make the lower-seeded teams work harder and play more games. Here is an idea:
The 9 seed plays the 12 seed & the 10 seed plays the 11 seed. Both are a best of three series.
The winner of the 9/12 game advances to play the current 8 seed while the winner of the 10/11 game advances to play the current 7 seed. Again, it will be a best of three series.
After that play-in round of series, the NHL would have eight teams in each conference eligible for the playoffs. From there, they could shorten the schedule even more by making the next two rounds best of five series before going back to the traditional best of seven series for the conference finals and Stanley Cup Finals. That should allow them to hand out the Stanley Cup in just over two months if they keep the gap between series short.
If they started playing these game games in May, that means the Cup could likely be handed out in early-mid July and that should allow them a normal 82 game schedule next season.
The downside of this solution is that the 7-12 seeds in each conference will have a few games under their belt by the time they face a 1-6 seed in the playoffs. They will be back in game shape while the higher seeds will have gone over two months without any game action. It’s the old ‘rest vs rust’ debate.
If you aren’t a fan of that idea, here’s another one:
The top four teams in each conference receive a bye. From there, the 5 seed plays the 12 seed. The 6 seed plays the 11 seed and so on from there. These would be best of five series.
That would leave four teams with a bye while there are four other series still going on. After the initial best of five, you would have 16 teams left and could go about the final four rounds of the playoff however you please. If you feel like you have lots of time, you could make them all best of seven series. If you’re tight for time and need to finish things in under two months, you could make them a best of five series.
This situation would allow the league to potentially hand out a Stanley Cup in under two months of play.
Those seem to be the two ‘safest’ options. But, what if the NHL wanted to get a little bit weird with it? I also have a few out of the box ideas, starting with this:
Survival mode. Forget about conferences and divisions. Rank the teams 1-24 and start with a single knockout 23 vs 24 game. From there, the winner plays the 22 seed, then the 21 seed, and so on from there. Do that until you get to four or eight teams and then start playing series from that point on.
The upside of this is that it would be like March Madness and the idea of a team going on a run of six straight wins would make it wildly entertaining. The unrealistic part is that you would likely end up with a red hot team running out of gas and just getting beat by the eight seed regardless. Also, teams would probably be pretty pissed if they had to bring there team back together, spend a week going through a mini training camp, only to be eliminated after one game.
Another option is to make it a true ‘mini-tournament’. Take the 1-12 seeds in each conference, split them up into two pools, and have each team play five round-robin games. The tiebreaker within each pool can be regular-season win percentage, which will still reward teams that were better during the normal season. From the pools of six, you cut it down to two after the round-robin play and then those two teams go head-to-head in a best of five series. After that, you’d have your league’s final four.
The bottom line with all of these options is that no matter how the NHL decides to conclude their season, should they even get that opportunity, there is going to be an asterisk next to the Stanley Cup winner. It’s unfortunate, but it’s the reality of the situation.
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