Toronto Maple Leafs: NHL Playoff Format Is So Dumb

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the midst of a playoff series against the Boston Bruins.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins will play game seven Wednesday night, and the winner has to play Tampa Bay.  That means that whoever wins, has to face two of the best six teams in the entire NHL in the first two rounds.  Most other teams have a much easier path to the final.

The NHL is a professional sports league.

I shouldn’t have to point that out, but sometimes you wonder.

Given they have had over 100 years to get their playoff formatting down, it’s kind of bizarre that what exists today is a colossal joke.

In a sensible world, the first place team would play the 16th place team, the second place team would play the 15th place team, and so on and so forth.  But we do not live in a sensible world. At the very least, since the conferences are split up, one should play eight.

This divisional rivalry stuff is for the birds.

We live in the version of the world where the NHL makes it’s best series all occur in the first couple of rounds.

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This isn’t good for anyone. (Except for maybe Las Vegas).

What Is Going On?

The NHL’s first round of playoffs featured several matches that were unfair to teams that conquered the regular season schedule and deserved easier opponents.

The Nashville Predators were the NHL’s best team. Their reward was playing Colorado, the 17th best team.  That’s perfect.  It’s how it should be.

But how is it fair that the NHL’s second best team, the Winnipeg Jets, had to play the 8th overall team?  It’s not like the Wild presented a Toronto/Boston situation, but it’s still not fair for the Jets.

In the second round, Nashville will play the Jets.  The NHL’s two best teams in the second round. Like Pittsburgh and Washington in last year’s second round, it’s essentially the Cup Final in round two.  It’s so dumb.  Vegas gets to play the Sharks and whoever makes the Conference Finals should have an asterisk besides their name because it’s artificial advancement.

To make the Finals, Winnipeg could have to face the NHL’s 8th best team, the 1st best team and the 5th best team.  Even if the Sharks win, the Jet’s path to the Final involves having to beat three 100 points teams.  That’s preposterous.

In the East, the Bruins and Leafs face similar predicaments.  (If Toronto somehow survives a Boston, Tampa, Pittsburgh gauntlet, they should win the Cup automatically).

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Conclusion

Besides it being unfair, it’s just stupid.  The current situation leads to all sorts of early playoff series that should be done later.  The best teams should have a chance to face each other in the finals.  That’s just common sense.  The path to the Finals for the Jets, Bruins or Leafs is preposterous when compared to any other team.