Penguins Update: NHL Needs to Fix Playoff Format

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.