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Toronto Maple Leafs: Pros and Cons of NHL Playoff Play-In Games

By Stephen Nixon

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 11: Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitchell Marner (16) reacts to his penalty shot goal during Game 1 of the First Round between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 11, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 11: Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitchell Marner (16) reacts to his penalty shot goal during Game 1 of the First Round between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 11, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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COLUMBUS, OH – APRIL 16: Players from the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Tampa Bay Lightning (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH – APRIL 16: Players from the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Tampa Bay Lightning (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) /

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.

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