Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishThis postseason will be the fourth year in a row that LA will face the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the playoffs.Photograph: Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images“It’s the stupidest thing ever.” This was Washington Capitals’ forward Daniel Winnik’s review in 2017 of the NHL’s still (somewhat) new playoff format. Three seasons earlier, along with realigning its divisions, the NHL had abandoned it’s previous, simple playoff arrangement. For 20 years, the top eight teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs, with the first-placed team playing the eighth-placed team, the second-placed team played the seventh, and so on. “I don’t know why it’s not one to eight,” Winnik said. “I don’t know why we got away from that.” A lot of people are still asking the same question.AdvertisementOn Sunday, as the NHL locked in its first Western conference playoff matchup, confirming that the Dallas Stars will face the Colorado Avalanche, some fans took to online forums to both celebrate and lament. “Anybody else hate the divisional format? I truly think both of these teams are legit contenders,” one user posted to the r/hockey subreddit under a link announcing the matchup. “Pretty sure literally everyone does,” another responded. Indeed, it seems unfair that one of the top teams in the West will be eliminated so soon into the postseason. Worse, is that, thanks in part to the playoff format, fans have seen this matchup coming for ages – a predictability that is supposed to build anticipation, but has instead become annoying.Related: Alex Ovechkin is now the NHL’s greatest goalscorer. It’s debatable what else he isHere’s how the NHL playoffs work now: Since 2014, the top three teams from each NHL division qualify for the postseason, plus the next two highest-placed teams by points, regardless of their division, as wildcard entrants. In the first round, each of the top divisional seeds plays a wildcard team, with the team with the most points playing the wildcard team with the least. Meanwhile, the second- and third-placed teams from each division face off.When it was announced for the 2014 season, the revamped playoff rearrangement was just one piece of a broader league-wide realignment. The NHL redesigned its divisions and conferences to align more closely with time zone boundaries to both reduce travel and make TV schedules better for fans. “We played a majority of games outside the Eastern time zone, and our next generation of fans wanted to be able to watch and listen. But so many of our games started too late,” John Davidson, president of the Columbus Blue Jackets – who moved from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference during the realignment – said when the changes were approved.AdvertisementNHL commissioner Gary Bettman also felt the realignment would create more intense rivalries, because it meant that teams began to play inside their division and conference more frequently – three or four times each – with the remainder of the games against teams from the other conference. On the eve of the 2014 Stanley Cup final, Bettman declared the effort a mission accomplished. “I think the entire realignment this season has been received overwhelmingly in a positive way,” Bettman said at a 2014 press conference. “The rivalries have been great,” he said, speaking of that year’s postseason – the first under the new format.Whether or not divisional or conference rivalries have intensified since the realignment is a point of debate. What’s clearer is that the playoff matchups in an ever-expanding league remain in some cases painfully predictable.The LA Kings of recent years are a good example. This postseason will be the fourth year in a row that LA will face the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the playoffs. The Oilers have won the past three meetings. Forget rivalry, this is more like a recurring nightmare for Kings fans – and one they could see coming for months. It’s a similar, though less pronounced, issue for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who’ve faced the Boston Bruins three times in the first round since 2018 and the Tampa Bay Lightning twice. “You see LA-Edmonton every year in the first round. Is that really good for the league?” Winnipeg forward Gabriel Vilardi asked reporters in March. “You can’t make rivalries. They just happen naturally. That’s my opinion.”What to do? The solution to all this might not be a fresh overhaul of the playoff format itself, but of the regular-season points system. Some have suggested that the NHL should adopt the 3-2-1 points system it used in the Four Nations tournament earlier this year – that is, three points for a win, two for an overtime win or shootout win, and one for an overtime or shootout loss (zero for a loss in regulation). Currently, the NHL awards two points for any win and one point for a loss in overtime or a shootout. The theory is that the 3-2-1 system would incentivize teams to win more games in regulation, thereby shifting the overall standings, and rewarding teams that might have otherwise not made the postseason. One poll in 2024 showed 78.7% of NHL fans want the change. Yet, if the 3-2-1 points system had been applied this season, the Oilers and Kings still would have likely played one another in the first round. And the Leafs would not have played the Senators (as they will), but instead, uh, the Lightning.AdvertisementFor now, Bettman doesn’t think the format needs a rethink. “I’m pretty dug in on this,” he said in March. “I like exactly what we have and if you look at the races that we’re having for the regular season, playoffs have started already,” Bettman added, referring to the fact that some teams have been relatively certain of the team they’ll face in the first round for many weeks. Bettman referred to this inevitability as the NHL’s “play-in tournament”, referring to the NBA’s extra games that determine the final teams to make the postseason. But, even by his own account, Bettman should consider a change. When the current playoff format was introduced, Bettman said it would stand for at least three years “barring another relocation or expansion” – neither of which, he noted, were being considered. Since then, the NHL has seen one team relocate and two new join. It might be time.Playoff predictionsWestern Conference final Las Vegas v WinnipegEastern Conference final Toronto v WashingtonAdvertisementStanley Cup final Winnipeg v TorontoIf this proves to be the matchup, it would be fitting for a year in which Canada has (re)defined itself so much via hockey that a Canadian team finally ends the nation’s 35-year Cup drought. Things have aligned well for the Leafs this season, but the hockey gods are also endlessly cruel, so if this unbelievable Cup Final should occur, the safe bet would be with the Jets.
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