No offense to the good citizens of Ottawa, or their hockey team. But every time I ponder the second-round playoff matchups in the Eastern Conference, I see red. Senators red.
In one bracket, you have the Penguins and the Capitals duking it out. Arguably the two best teams in the league, they were the two top point-getters in the National Hockey League during the regular season.
One of them is going home after this series. Just like the team with the fourth-most points, the Blue Jackets, who had the profound misfortune of drawing our powerhouse Pens as their first-round foe.
In the other bracket? The New York Rangers square off against the Senators. Good teams, both, but hardly world beaters. Yet one of them will fast-track to the Conference Finals. A little puck luck, and who knows? … A shot at Lord Stanley’s coveted silver chalice, perhaps.
It doesn’t make sense. Let me amend my statement. It doesn’t make sense anywhere but in the fertile minds of Commissioner Gary Bettman and the NHL brass.
Prior to the 2013-14 season, they revamped the method used in seeding teams for the playoffs as part of an ambitious league-wide realignment.
Under the previous format, the three division winners in each conference earned the top three seeds, based on points. All-in-all, ample reward for regular-season success. Slots five through eight were filled with the next highest finishers, regardless of their division. Then the top seed played the eighth seed, the second seed played the seventh seed, and so on.
It made perfect sense, at least to me. Which is probably why Bettman & Co. killed it in favor of our current cockeyed format. The new setup emphasizes divisional matchups with an odd crossover thread, one the Rangers exploited to the fullest by knocking off the Canadiens—Atlantic Division champs—in the opening round.
The aim? Creating stronger rivalries by promoting keener competition within the four new divisions—a thinly veiled attempt to add meaning and luster to the NHL’s arduous 82-game regular season.
A noble concept, I suppose, but flawed in its application. In their quest for parity, the NHL bigwigs never envisioned that one division might thoroughly outshine its conference mate, or, on the flip side, that a division could drastically underperform.
Apparently, no one in authority remembered the Norris Division of the early ‘80s, a motley collection of underachievers and bottom feeders that routinely produced sub-.500 playoff teams. Then again, it was BBT—before Bettman’s time.
Such was pretty much the case this season with the Metropolitan Division and their non-kissin’ cousin, the Atlantic Division. Points-wise, the Metro had four of the top five teams in the Eastern Conference (four of the league’s top nine). Montreal was the lone party crasher.
The Rangers, with 102 points, qualified for the postseason as a wild card team, behind Atlantic Division teams like Ottawa (98 points) and Boston (95 points). When you think about it, an extremely advantageous position. Especially compared to poor Columbus, in essence penalized for finishing a notch higher in the Metro.
Does anyone really want to see the best teams get eliminated early, while lesser ones advance? I have nothing against underdogs. In fact, I root for ‘em all the time. Come the postseason, however, I want to watch the best teams and the best players, not a comparative weak sister that slipped through the cracks thanks, in part, to quirky seeding.
If the powers that be are so concerned with promoting divisional rivalries, have teams play each other more than a piddling four times during the regular season. Yes, I understand the NHL hierarchy wants to ensure fans in each city get to see elite players like Sidney Crosby and rising supernova Connor McDavid at least once a year. Especially those who support marginal teams. Hence, the present scheduling format.
There’s got to be a better way.
At the very least, allow teams to reseed following the opening round of the playoffs. This would alleviate at least some of the injustice inherent in the current format.
The bottom line?
In a week or two, an outstanding hockey club will be sent packing, not to mention a cluster of the NHL’s brightest stars. Whether it’s Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin or Alex Ovechkin and Niklas Backstrom, everybody loses. The players, the fans, the league, the TV networks…everybody.
Do the right thing, Mr. Bettman.
Fix a broken system.
Puckpourri
Carl Hagelin returned to Penguins practice yesterday wearing a yellow non-contact jersey. He betrayed no ill effects from the lower-body injury that’s sidelined him since March 12.
“You could see the impact he has on a practice, just with his skating ability and his energy out there,” said Pens coach Mike Sullivan. “I think Haggy is getting eager. … We’ll take it day-to-day as we go.”
A key performer against the Caps last spring, the speedy winger collected three goals and four assists over the rousing six-game set, including the winning tally in Game 3.
Chris Kunitz likely will be a game-time decision for tonight’s series opener. There’s been no official word on the status of goalie Matt Murray.
Talk about cement heads, those bozos on cNBC particularly the ex-Bruin Bone Head proselytizing Ovie to intentionally injure Crosby. Maybe it is time for that man to retire from sports casting and stop assaulting our ears with his Neanderthal prattling.
Hey Coach
Bonino, Bonino, Bonino..
Bonino made Orpik and Shattenkirk look slow.
In fact our faster forwards exploited the slow footed d of the Caps.
Plus Holtby looked beatable and he was.
Of course Super Sid gets 2 and prevents 3 more.
Pens in 6..
Hey Jim,
First back to my “I get no respect rant”;
I just looked at the NHL web site and read the following headline, “Penguins rebound, defeat Capitals in Game 1”
What?
For the Pens to rebound, it sounds like the Pens were losing at some point. Yes, the Caps pummeled the Pens D with shots (35 SOG, 29 BS, 18 MS, equals 82 Shots Attempted) but in true Mohammed Ali rope-a-dope fashion, the Pens bent but didn’t break. They never had to rebound the never trailed in the game.
This is really starting to anger me! With one road victory under the Pens belt, I am still not anywhere near as consident as I was last year (Given the 82 shot attempts by Was) but acknowledging MAFs absolute brilliance at home, I am breathing a little easier and I am preying that our boys of winter can run the table against the Caps.
I am hoping that Gorilla on Was back has just gotten 10 times larger.
By the way, I did the same thing when I saw Bonino blow past Orpik, I started yelling Bonino, Bonino, Bonino, even before his shot left his stick.
Give, Wilson credit too, getting the puck to Bonino.
👍👍
Sorry, lots of typos up there; 1) 2-ll’s in pummelled, 2) 19 MS, 3) 83 Total Shot Attempts Against, 4) “they never trailed” not “the never trailed”, 5) “confident” not “consident”, 6) “praying” not “preying”.
I must really be angry over that head line. Time for me to take a couple breaths so I can remember how to type and remember the proper homonyms.
Hey Coach
FYI….Our local media has been saying about the speed of the Pen’s and how the Caps are in trouble.
They certainly did say the Caps were the better team.
All of them say the Pen’s will win and Holtby was not sharp.
He does not like being challenged with Patric H. in his face.Toronto never had that dimension in their game.
So they are a few unbiased media still alive and well.
Let’s go Pens
Typos
Looks like ur not alone.
SB….
They certainly did NOT say the Caps were the better team.
Sorry about that☺
Hey Jim,
If nothing else, the typos have to keep us humble.
don’t know what the rest of the playoffs will look like but I just watched Guentzel’s save. He is my hero!! Right now he is giving his all!!!
He made it look easy…Coach ☺
Hard to teach a rookie to play like that..
I like the you have to play your way out of your conference and then division. I always disliked the re-aligning of teams after each round. Sometimes one division is just better than the other.
The only way to fix it would be to have the top four teams from each division play each other, get rid of the stupid wild card . If you can’t finish top four in your division, you don’t make the playoffs, I should be that simple. It’s sort of what like “the other Rick” is saying except without changing the quantity of teams.
It just doesn’t make sense to me that the Rangers and Toronto are playing in the wrong divisions.
Just some random thoughts form the Rodney Dangerfield file;
First Evgeni Malkin is snubbed from the top 100 all time players list. To be sure there were a lot of great players on that list, but not all of them were better than Malkin.
Second Murray has one of the finest rookie seasons for a goalie all time and he doesn’t make the Calder finalist list? Again, some good people made the list, but Murray put up numbers comprable to the best ever.
Third Sully gets snubbed last year for the Jack Adams trophy after turning a team around and coming in with the second best regular season and wins the Cup. This year he over comes an insane amount of injuries and again comes in with the 2nd best regular season record and has a good chance to do something no coach has done in quite some time, and he gets snubbed again.
All I can hear is Rodney Dangerfield with his “I tell you I get no respect” quote. Although I am in the camp of people who think this match up is a toss up, I really, really want these Pens to ram it down the throats of the talking heads that give them no respect. I really want to see another Cup. Let the talking heads and the rest of the league pat each other on the back with their empty season ending trophies from their popularity contest, as long as the Pens can bring home the only trophy that matters.
Here, here, Other Rick. VERY well expressed.
Going waaaaay off on a tangent, the old Lite beer commercials featuring Rodney Dangerfield used to crack me up. I’ll still watch them from time to time on YouTube, and they still make me howl. Especially love the camping trip and bowling tournament ads (“We need one pin, Rodney!”)
Shows you the mentality you’re dealing with here … 🙂
Rick
PS–GO PENS!!!
Hmm…*looks at the final standings*
East
1st round
Toronto @ Washington
Boston @ Pittsburgh
Ottawa @ Columbus
Montreal @ NYR
West
Nashville @ Chicago
Calgary @ Minnesota
St. Louis @ Anaheim
San Jose @ Edmonton
As far as Kunitz goes, there’s an old baseball term: dance with what brung ya. If one of the guys has a hard time against the Caps, then maybe give him a day off and let Kunitz go in.
I like your option best Darth.
Get rid of the 4 divisions and go with 2 conferences.
16 Teams in one conference and 15 in the other.
# 1 plays # 8, # 2 plays # 7……ect. come play offs.
Problem is once again …greed by the owners.
They say increases in travel costs and the desire to build stronger rivalries are the main reasons for the 4 division set up.
I do not by the rivalry argument. Due to increased media coverage there are many excellent rivalries that exist outside the artifically created divisions.It is all about money and saving on travel costs.Sad indeed.
I can remember when not that long ago all the Cup favorite teams played in the west.I think it is just a natural flow of the game as teams grow stronger while others decline only to rebuild and rise up once again.
Jim
Hey Rick,
A couple of things;
First, no Kuntiz doesn’t play if it is my decision. What is the old saying, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The 12 forwards that have gotten the team past CBJ with electric offensive performances earned the chance to do the dame against Was. I like Kunitz, but I like winning more. Don’t risk it.
Barring any dip in Offensive output I will say the same when Hagelin comes back.
Finally, I am of the opinion that the Play-offs need fixed, but not by going back to the old system of just ranking all teams in the conference and pairing them off that way. I may be in the minority but in my opinion that is worse than what they have now. Both systems make a mockery of the regular season but the old system also made a mockery of having divisions.
The problem with the play-off format is the number of teams making the play-offs. Why have a regualr season at all when over half the league makes the play-offs. With all due respect CBJ and NYR, sorry if you can’t at least come in 2nd in your own division, then you stay home. For that matter I wouldn’t be all that upset if only the top team in each division made the play-offs. Yes it would put the Pens on the outside looking in, but it would put a premium on winning during the regular season making it tougher on teams who only try and stay close until the trade deadline and then pick-up rental players to make the play-offs. It would make teams more honest and have to build their teams to win in October as well as March or at least a try a little harder in October.
As for the Metro being so much stronger than the Atlantic, well that is just the luck of the draw, maybe next year the outcome will be flipped and the Metro will be sneaking the weaker team into the Conference finals.