The NHL playoff format runs in a way that has some of the best teams battling against each other just to make it to the second round.
According to NHL.com, the format runs as such: eight teams from each conference make the playoffs, the top three in each division and two wild card teams.
In the first round, the division winner with the best record in each conference will be matched against the wild-card team with the lesser record. The wild card team with the better record will play the other division winner. The teams finishing second and third in each division will meet within the bracket headed by their respective division winners.
That format change was brought into effect before the start of the 2013-14 season to stoke rivalries and keep the series within the same geographical locations.
Bobby McMann (74) carrying the puck being defended by John Tavares (91) and Max Domi (11). Toronto Maple Leafs practice at Nathan Philips Square on Feb. 8, 2024. Photo credit: Nicholas Prencipe
I believe the playoff format used before 2013 would be better for the league and enjoyment for viewers. But NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made it clear it won’t change.
Before the current system was set, the playoffs were run differently. Eight teams from each conference made the playoffs, but the conference champion would battle the eighth-ranked team to make the playoffs, the second would play seventh, the third would play sixth and the fourth would play fifth.
In the conference semifinals, the winners from the first round would match up as the higher ranked versus the lower ranked and the middle two would then play each other.
This gave the teams that placed higher in the standings and had the better season a fairer opportunity to move on to the next round as they would play a lower-ranked team in their conference.
The current format pits two of the best teams in each conference are guaranteed to be knocked out of the playoffs as the second and third-place teams in each division play against each other.
I am a Toronto Maple Leafs fan and it seems like they regularly always face the Boston Bruins in the first round. Boston is a physically dominant team, and the skill of the Leafs never seems to prevail.
However — and this may sound salty because the Leafs always seem to lose in the first round — if the playoff format was one versus eight, two versus seven and so on, Toronto would rarely face Boston.
Leafs centre Auston Matthews taking a shot at his goaltender, Joseph Woll. This photo is from the Leafs' first practice in September 2023. Photo credit: Nicholas Prencipe
Boston and Toronto are two of the better teams in the Eastern Conference, and although the Leafs have never beaten the Bruins in a first-round matchup, either way, one of the better teams in the league would be knocked out of cup contention extremely early.
Michael Martin, a hockey fanatic and supporter of the Carolina Hurricanes, is not a fan of the current playoff format.
“I question why the NHL would do it like this,” he said. “Why would you want two of the best teams in the league to be knocked out so early? I understand that it makes the first round a bit more exciting, but at the end of it, you are losing a couple of huge fan bases early either way.”
Martin said the best team may not always win, even if matched against a lower-ranked team, but in a seven-game series, quality will usually prevail.
“I enjoy seeing underdogs come out on top in the playoffs, like Florida last year,” Martin said. “But, you gotta give the teams who played the best throughout the season a better chance at the cup.”
Either way, though, I’m watching the Stanley Cup playoffs. Go Leafs Go.