NHL considering resuming the season with 24 team playoff

[JR Ewing]

1 hour ago, Icechipper said:

To the league's credit there are at least three women on the committee working on this, attorneys to both the league and players, in addition to at least one of the physicians consulting......

 

It's always nice to be reminded that intelligence is oh-so thinly spread between men and women equally.

[ruxpin]

19 hours ago, jammer2 said:

Dont mean this to sound stand offish...but until somebody actually beats me...I'm the champ.

 

 

Per the monkeys   

[radoran]

FWIW if this farce goes on, I'm crowning the winner the NHL Television Champion.

 

They are in no way "Stanley Cup Champions" for me.

[jammer2]

2 hours ago, ruxpin said:

 

 

Per the monkeys   

Wow. Insane. Dethroned without losing a playoff match up. Wow. 

[ruxpin]

1 hour ago, jammer2 said:

Wow. Insane. Dethroned without losing a playoff match up. Wow. 

Lol. 

Obviously a big ol' asterisk.  I'm actually quite proud of winning the regular season, honestly. I work hard at that. 

 

But it's still a bit empty now. 

 

We should pro-rate it. 

[WordsOfWisdom]

On 5/23/2020 at 12:16 PM, Puck_Pun said:

Anyway, it looks like the playoffs will look something like this. Personally 24 teams is too many to be in the playoffs, but eh, seems like that's what's going to happen

 

Taking a closer look at this farce:

 

Why does the winner of 8 vs 9 face the #1 seed?

Why does the winner of 5 vs 12 face the #4 seed?

 

The Leafs are already being screwed over and this farce hasn't even started yet. Montreal and New York (Rangers) were not playoff quality teams. That's an embarrassment.  To think the Rangers can play Carolina and then slide into a match against a #3 seed is a joke. Meanwhile Toronto faces Columbus and then the top team? WTF?

 

Why are the top 4 teams playing each other to determine the seeding? It's already determined from the standings. That should NEVER happen. You never want the top teams facing off in the first round. 

 

I hope the NHL comes to their senses, finishes the regular season, and plays the standard top-16 playoffs. Don't care if it's a best-of-5 or a best-of-7. I don't want to see Florida, New York, or Montreal in these playoffs. It's ridiculous.  

[AJgoal]

5 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

The Leafs are already being screwed over and this farce hasn't even started yet. Montreal and New York (Rangers) were not playoff quality teams. That's an embarrassment.  To think the Rangers can play Carolina and then slide into a match against a #3 seed is a joke. Meanwhile Toronto faces Columbus and then the top team? WTF?

 

If your team didn't want to get screwed over, they should have played better. The only reason they had a shot at the playoffs at all, despite all their talent, was the fact that they play in a weak division. Why shouldn't Carolina play a lower-seeded opponent? Last time I checked, they have a better points percentage than Toronto. In the old playoff format, the Leafs would have played the one seed, IF they beat out Columbus at the end of the season. Re-seeding after the play in is the only adjustment I would make if they're committed to this.

 

5 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

 

Why are the top 4 teams playing each other to determine the seeding? It's already determined from the standings. That should NEVER happen. You never want the top teams facing off in the first round.

 

It's a round robin. You know, kind of like what happens ALL THE TIME at the World Juniors, World Championships, and Olympics, where the top couple of teams regularly face each other in the first round. Except here, nobody gets eliminated.

 

5 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

I hope the NHL comes to their senses, finishes the regular season, and plays the standard top-16 playoffs. Don't care if it's a best-of-5 or a best-of-7. I don't want to see Florida, New York, or Montreal in these playoffs. It's ridiculous.  and just calls the season

 

FTFY. I'll watch, because it's hockey, but it won't feel the same. And I think many of the players will feel the same way.

[SCFlyguy]

The format is generally fine, given the situation.  The only request I make is that once reduced to 16 teams, all playoff rounds must be best of seven so as to mimic the normal playoffs.

 

Like the Leafs stood a chance regardless of format.

[ruxpin]

8 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

Why does the winner of 8 vs 9 face the #1 seed?

Why does the winner of 5 vs 12 face the #4 seed?

 

First of all, I hate the whole farce.

 

But they're sticking with the bracket set-up rather than re-seeding.    So, 8 would have played one.   So the "play-in" is to fill that spot.

Same with the 5v12.  The 5 would have played the 4.   So, instead of reseeding if #12 wins the play-in, they'll just take that slot.

 

I think there are two reasons:

1) Obstinance:  they've insisted on the bracket thing since they set up the current conference alignment.

2) The wanting to not re-seed may be due to the same reason they're calling the first round a "play in" rather than being part of a playoffs.  Something to do with regional sports network contracts and number of regular season games.  Somehow the "play in" terminology classifies the games as regular season so that these games fulfill that contractual obligation.   It's possible, too, that reseeding weakens that already strained classification so, stick with the bracket.   It does suck for several teams and I think it definitely makes it bad for Toronto.   If they're playing Columbus, they would have played a sinking infirmary when the season was paused.  By June, some of those folks might be back.  That's an ugly play-in matchup. 

 

8 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

Why are the top 4 teams playing each other to determine the seeding? It's already determined from the standings. That should NEVER happen. You never want the top teams facing off in the first round. 

 

Largely just to allow them to play some rust off.    But it sucks for team like Tampa who was well-ahead and now suddenly drops in seeding because they don't come back on all cylinders from a 3-month layoff.  

 

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by ruxpin

[ruxpin]

2 hours ago, AJgoal said:

FTFY. I'll watch, because it's hockey, but it won't feel the same. And I think many of the players will feel the same way.

 

I said this elsewhere and sorry if that elsewhere was here.

 

Yeah, it won't feel the same.   And I have a really strong suspicion we'll find out exactly how much even the television watcher feeds off the reactions of the crowd while watching.   And I'd bet a ton on the players being the same way.   Even a goal that would usually result in euphoria from the crowd and a big show of emotion from the player (I'm willing to bet that this is a 75% symbiotic thing) will be much more sedate like a goal in intramural pre-season camp game.

[mojo1917]

12 hours ago, radoran said:

FWIW if this farce goes on, I'm crowning the winner the NHL Television Champion.

 

They are in no way "Stanley Cup Champions" for me.

 

That almost guarantees your team will win it then, doesn't it?

 

If this can be done safely, I welcome the distraction.

The playoffs are the best thing about our sport, I'm happy to have them.

If a team wins four best of sevens why wouldn't it count?

 

If our guys win I won't care about an asterisk or any of that junk. 

That banner will look sweet in the rafters and I'll bring my mask to the parade. 

 

 

[intheslot]

The NHL released details regarding Returning to Play on Tuesday, and one of the quirky things that stood out was the fact, playoff teams can carry 28 players, and as many goalies as they like. It's expected teams will be all-in on this, and are expected to carry 4 goalies on their rosters.

Sorry, David Ayers, but this was put into place as having E-BUG's available in hub-cities isn't feasible given the travel restrictions, and amount of games being played each day.

The locations of the hub-cities have yet to be finalized, but Gary Bettman's wish is for Vegas to play host to the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final. To note, if a team is playing 'host', they will be playing host to the opposite conference and won't be playing in their arena early on these playoffs. Also to note, NHL deputy commissioner, Bill Daly, confirmed on an interview with TSN, the league wants one of the Hub-cities to be in Canada.

....THOUGHTS...!!!!

[Math]

Teams like Chicago and Montreal had almost zero chances to get in the playoffs and now they are in, having a shot at the Cup. If they lose in the preliminary round, they would be in the draft lottery...

 

The 24-team format allow big market like MTL, CHI and NYR to be lucky losers and back into contention. What did Buttman say? Oh yes: "I want to make clear that the health and safety of our players, coaches, essential support staff and our communities are paramount". Sure...

 

If this really happen, next season is planned to start no earlier than late December/early January.

[AJgoal]

3 hours ago, ruxpin said:

 

First of all, I hate the whole farce.

 

But they're sticking with the bracket set-up rather than re-seeding.  

 

 

 

Are they? I haven't read the whole return to play document, but according to this article, re-seeding is still on the table.

[radoran]

14 hours ago, ruxpin said:

Lol. 

Obviously a big ol' asterisk.  I'm actually quite proud of winning the regular season, honestly. I work hard at that. 

 

But it's still a bit empty now. 

 

We should pro-rate it. 

 

No way, dude - you're the champ.

 

#### the Warriors!

 

[radoran]

4 hours ago, mojo1917 said:

That almost guarantees your team will win it then, doesn't it?

 

So, you're tuning in to the whole reverse psychology of this, then?

 

 

4 hours ago, mojo1917 said:

The playoffs are the best thing about our sport, I'm happy to have them.

 

i just don't think this is going to be the "playoff hockey" we know. There's been two months off with most players not really having the opportunity to do much training at all (there are many examples of players saying this).

 

Three weeks of "training camp" and then playing in empty arenas will simply (IMO) never have the same atmosphere.

 

I also wouldn't count on a "parade" regardless of who wins. Philadelphia got slammed after a pandemic parade 100 years ago. I'm a block off Broad Street and I'm seeing maybe 50/50 folks with/without masks.

 

And it will never feel right seeing that banner up next to 73-74 and 74-75. For me. YMMV.

[ruxpin]

1 hour ago, AJgoal said:

 

Are they? I haven't read the whole return to play document, but according to this article, re-seeding is still on the table.

 

As currently constructed, it's bracket but there's apparently possibility this could change--if unlikely.

I don't have it at the moment but I read an article that it was being pushed by the NHLPA and denied by the teams but that they agreed to the package as a whole  but the players are still attempting to "discuss" the bracket thing.

 

I doubt the teams give on this because I highly suspect it's not just obstinance but is being attached to the TV contracts/regular season games issue.

 

Ultimately, there is absolutely no way to make this "fair" for everyone.   Someone is going to get screwed.   Is this the result that qualifies as "as fair as possible?"    I'm not sure.   And huge expansion of rosters certainly ain't it.

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by ruxpin

[jammer2]

16 hours ago, ruxpin said:

Lol. 

Obviously a big ol' asterisk.  I'm actually quite proud of winning the regular season, honestly. I work hard at that. 

 

But it's still a bit empty now. 

 

We should pro-rate it. 

I think they should have let each league decide what to do. Personally, I was roster experimenting, knowing I had a playoff spot already. Was also carrying guys who had favourable playoff games played at the expense of better pt producers. Oh well...congrats!

[Icechipper]

If we're making world competion comparisons, shall we have the seven weak sister teams play a relegation tournament in Grand Forks or Flin Flon, kind of like the NIT basketball tournament, with the worst team relegated to the ECHL for next season?

 

yeah, a top four seeded team ca lay an egg on the qualifiers, go 0-3, then turn on the jets. Four goalies fits with the six skater practice rules for the wind up phase.

 

So with 28 players, since this is for all the marbles, each team may elect to ice a minor-league knuckle dragging pugilist from the minors, who can goon it up and get tossed from the tournament, without his team skipping a beat.....oh the possibilities. What's to keep top four teams from resting groin strained or superstar players in those meaningless contests?

Edited May 27, 2020 by Icechipper

[mojo1917]

2 hours ago, radoran said:

And it will never feel right seeing that banner up next to 73-74 and 74-75. For me. YMMV.

you're right my mileage does vary.

 

If our guys win IDGAF that they played the same amount of games, travelling greater distances vs more teams with better top to bottom talent than those 70's teams. I have never held winning those cups  against those 70's teams .

 

Big if I know.

Edited May 27, 2020 by mojo1917

[ruxpin]

24 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

you're right my mileage does vary.

 

If our guys win IDGAF that they played the same amount of games, travelling greater distances vs more teams with better top to bottom talent than those 70's teams. I have never held winning those cups  against those 70's teams .

 

Big if I know.

 

What if you pro-rate it?   Does it still come out even?

[ruxpin]

1 minute ago, ruxpin said:

What if you pro-rate it?   Does it still come out even?

 

No, I don't have the pro-rating thing out of my system yet.

 

Not even close.

 

Though, one single post from superfan88 will make me instantly forget it.

Edited May 27, 2020 by ruxpin

[radoran]

2 hours ago, mojo1917 said:

you're right my mileage does vary.

 

If our guys win IDGAF that they played the same amount of games, travelling greater distances vs more teams with better top to bottom talent than those 70's teams. I have never held winning those cups  against those 70's teams .

 

Big if I know.

 

And that's completely fair for you.

 

I object to the entire concept of 3/4 of teams making the playoffs and the chance that a team who wasn't qualified to be in the real playoffs being given a chance to win a Cup.

 

And I'll feel that way regardless of who wins it.

 

The 70s teams won a legitimate Cup playing a legitimate season using the measurements in place to determine a legitimate playoff participant and winner.

 

The winner of this Cup will have won a contrived tournament that bears little similarity to how the season and playoffs are played using the measurements in place to determine the winner in any other season.

 

Imagine the spectacle of a player skating around the ice with the Cup over his head in an empty arena.

 

For the sole purpose of satisfying a TV contract.

 

Give the teams a participation trophy and an honorific for the winners.

 

Since it's Bettman's dream, make it the President's Trophy.

 

Not the Stanley Cup.

Edited May 27, 2020 by radoran

[radoran]

Thinking more on this, I think the most bothersome thing to me is the implication that the fans don't matter. That they can't have an impact on a game. That it really doesn't matter if they're there.

 

That they aren't important.

 

It's a theme the league has developed throughout the 21st Century and it just seems like it continues with this spectacle.

 

This will be a Stanley Cup awarded with no fans having anything to do with it.

 

That's bugging me. And the biggest difference between this Cup and ANY other ever awarded.

Edited May 28, 2020 by radoran

[hf101]

There will be no one to Boo Bettman.