The NHL's General Manager meetings often feature discussions about rules, video reviews, and other pressing matters across the league. The meetings started with George Parros defending the Department of Player Safety's ruling on Radko Gudas. On Thursday, reports surfaced that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman staunchly defended the Stanley Cup Playoffs format despite some pushback.
“More than comfortable,” Bettman said, per The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. “It gives us a sensational first round. Probably the best playoff first round in any sport. We get more games and longer series as a result of the format. And you can always pick at certain situations in any given year and say, ‘Well, I’d like it to be different that year.’ But if you look at the body of work that our playoffs represent over time, what we have now works extraordinarily well.”
The NHL does not seed teams one through eight, as the NBA does. Instead, the top three teams from each division automatically qualify, while the final two spots are given to two Wild Card teams, regardless of division. The division winners play the Wild Cards, and the second and third seeds in each division play each other.
There are two main criticisms of this format. First, it creates the same playoff matchups year after year. The Edmonton Oilers have beaten the Los Angeles Kings in the first round in four consecutive years. But more importantly, unfair matchups often show up in those 2 vs 3 bouts.
Gary Bettman defends playoff system, Bill Guerin pushes back
The perfect example is this year's Central Division. The Minnesota Wild will easily clear 100 points, but will be a road team in the first round. They will likely have a better record than the Pacific Division winner by 10 points, but they have to play the Dallas Stars.
Minnesota GM Bill Guerin was one of the executives criticizing the playoff format, “This is a crazy year, too, because it just happens to be Colorado, Dallas, and us. So I guess, just be careful what you wish for, because you’d play a really good hockey team in any system. So there’s no perfect system, but in my opinion, the second-best team in the league shouldn’t be playing the third-best team in the league in the first round.”
Bettman does not want to change the playoff system, which means it won't be changed for a long time. Will the Wild get screwed in the postseason?
