Toronto Maple Leafs: Pros and Cons of NHL Playoff Play-In Games
In a regular sports world, the NHL playoffs would have been starting this week and the Toronto Maple Leafs most likely would’ve been facing the Tampa Bay Lightning.
April is the most spectacular sports month and Toronto Maple Leafs fans have gone on a roller-coaster ride of emotions for the past few seasons around this time.
People like to argue that October is a better sports month than April, but it’s not. April gives us the NHL and NBA playoffs, the beginning of MLB and of course The Masters.
As much as the NHL is a fun sport from October to March, playoff hockey is undefeated. Not only is the speed intensified, but the games are unpredictable and there’s nothing better than sudden-death overtime.
The first round of the NHL playoffs is so exciting. Every night for two weeks straight, you get the opportunity to watch games from 7:00PM-1:00AM EST, and if we’re lucky with overtime on the west coast, even longer.
Playoff hockey also brings back the excitement of fantasy sports and gambling. There’s no better feeling than picking that ‘nobody’ like Ville Leino in 2010 or Jake Guentzel in 2017 and winning your pool because of it.
Not only can players surprise in the playoffs, but individual teams can do the same. Whether you’re picking the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings team of 2012 or the Vegas Golden Knights in their inaugural 2017 playoffs, the playoffs are unpredictable.
Although the playoffs are not taking place this week, it’s quite possible the NHL returns and as a result the league may need to get creative.
The idea of a 24-team playoff format has been talked about and hockey people are getting very excited for it. Essentially each divisional winner and the other two top teams in each conference would get a bye, and the remaining eight teams would play the first round of the playoffs in more of a ‘play-in’ system.
There are definitely pros and cons to this idea, so let’s take a look:
Pros to a Play-In Playoff Format:
NHL Playoffs Would Be More Balanced
It feels like every year, there is one or two teams that miss the playoffs that shouldn’t have. Whether it’s due to injuries or a bad overtime/shootout record, a team is on the outside looking in.
There is so much parity in the NHL today that a team in 10th place has the ability to beat the 1st place team any night of the week. Therefore, by adding four more teams in each conference into the playoffs, we would be making sure that every good team in the NHL is in the playoffs.
If you look at the current standings right now, the teams in each conference to miss would be the following:
Eastern Conference: Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings
Western Conference: Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks
Nobody would say that those teams deserve to make the playoffs, whereas the 12th team in each conference (West – Chicago Blackhawks, East – Montreal Canadiens) have a case that if they made the playoffs, they could at least win a round.
More Playoffs Games Equals More Entertainment
From an entertainment standpoint, more playoff games means more excitement and entertainment for fans. The new format would give eight new fan-bases hope and excitement, that they typically wouldn’t have.
If you look at the other Big Four sports leagues, they’ve all expanded their playoff systems. The MLB now has a play-in game, and the NFL will be adding a seventh playoff team to each conference in 2021.
Although the Toronto Maple Leafs would currently have made the playoffs in today’s system, they have had a number of seasons over the past two decades that could have benefited from this new format.
It’s a win for everyone involved if they expand the playoff format. The best teams get a well deserved bye and a few extra fan-bases get into the big dance. More entertainment and competition also enhances current rivals and legitimizes more franchises.
Con’s to a Play-In Playoff Format:
Team’s May Worsen Their NHL Lottery Luck
Expanding the NHL Playoffs to 24 teams would give eight new teams the opportunity at winning the Stanley Cup but it may also hurt the teams rebuild. Fans can usually accept their team’s fate midway through the season and come to grips with the fact they’re going to miss the playoffs, and that’s okay.
The NHL Draft Lottery is an annual opportunity for losing fans to cross their fingers and hope for a high draft pick. With the expansion of the playoffs, this would change the entire mindset of a fan and their rebuild.
There is a reason why the NHL currently caps the playoffs to the top three teams in each divisions and two wild-card teams per conference. It distinguishes who is elite and who isn’t. The teams that miss the playoffs then get the opportunity to go into the NHL Draft Lottery and potentially luck out with a high pick.
It’s good for the NHL to have an upper and lower class. The playoffs are supposed to be a grind and it’s supposed to be rewarding when you’re in the playoffs. Most teams are not like the Detroit Red Wings dynasty and make the playoffs 25 straight years.
It’s usually a real celebration when teams make the playoffs and a 24-team system will not allow that excitement anymore. Also, it allows a fan-base to potentially have a successful and unsuccessful season all in one.
A team could make the playoffs, but then end up with the number-one overall pick based on their regular season record. That just doesn’t seem right.
Messing With tradition
Since the 1979-80 season, the NHL’s playoff system has had the same number of teams qualify for the playoffs: 16 teams.
The format has changed throughout the years, but since then, eight teams from each conference have always made the playoffs. From there, the winner of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference would meet in the Stanley Cup Final.
The new playoff system takes away from tradition, and hockey is all about tradition. From shaking hands after a playoff series, to growing beards that would make John “Grizzly” Adams proud, hockey is one for it’s rituals.
Eight teams is the perfect amount of teams to decide a playoff winner. If your team is not within that top eight, you don’t deserve to make the playoffs. There’s a reason why there is a very small number of eighth seeded teams to win the Stanley Cup or any other professional championship.
It’s because those teams in the lower half are just not that good. The tradition of eight is perfect in hockey. Although, I’d personally like it to go back to the old format of: 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5, the current format works and the tradition continues.
It takes 16 wins to hoist the Stanley Cup and that’s what it should be for every playoff team. It shouldn’t now be 16 wins or maybe 20 wins, depending on how they would decide to do the format.
The system currently works so there’s no reason to change. Everyone plays under the same rules, so points-percentage is probably a more fair way to decide things than a random play-in.