Article: Why Are the Wild Entering Such A Punishing Playoff Structure?

[Eric Forga]

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[Patrick]

I would think the NHL would want the better teams in the post season longer, which a conventional format offers.

But I also think the NHL would prefer the exhilarating finishes that a three point format offers compared to the vanilla dump and sag to achieve the losers points of the 2 point system. 

Bettman is an idiot. The NHL thrives despite his incompetence. And there is no doubt he is incompetent.

[TCMooch]

If the owners wanted it then it would be changed. For whatever reason they want to keep this stupid playoff format

[greg]

Of course they current playoff system is ridiculous.  It's the NHL.  What do you expect?

[B1GKappa97]

Unpopular opinion here, but I'm absolutely fine with the playoff format. I love the divisional rivalry series. I honestly don't care that we'd have to play both the Stars and Avs in back to back series most likely. 

Those are gonna be must-watch matchups in every round they play. 

If the Wild end up winning the Cup this year, they'll have definitely earned it by taking down the best of the best in the conferrence, and then taking down whoever makes it out of the East. 

Its not gonna be easy but goddamn if it wouldn't be a great playoff run for fans of the game. 

[B1GKappa97]

20 hours ago, Patrick said:

I would think the NHL would want the better teams in the post season longer, which a conventional format offers.

They still will get that. Whether its us or the Avs or the Stars who make it out of round 1, that sets up an epic round 2 matchup.

Which then creates an epic Western Conference Championship Series matchup between who ever wins the Central and Pacific.

And then the Cup.

[bean5302]

It's impossible to tell which teams are the best based on points or records. Look at last year's Minnesota Wild. If Kaprisov, Brodin and Rossi had been healthy at the end of the season and the Wild were to have snuck into the playoffs, would they really have been the weakest team compared to their point totals? No way. No team would have wanted to draw the Wild first at that point.

There are a lot of sports where that's true. Looking at the records and seasonal point totals aren't respective of how that team is playing when playoff time actually comes around.

I don't think hockey is any more or less imbalanced than other sports. If your team gets eliminated first round, tough rocks.

[MacGyver]

A more determining factor in the playoffs this year will be who comes out of the Olymipcs in one piece. All the best players, all the super stars throughout the league will be going full bore battle in the Olympics. Except of course the Russians. Kaprizov, Ovechkin, Panarin, Kucherov, Sergachev and on and on will be recharging their batteries and healing those aches and pains and be ready to play with a chip on their shoulders when the NHL gets back to playing. I personally love watching Olympic hockey but I think it's undeniable that it causes an imbalance in the league's regular season because the Russians are excluded. 

[Burnt Toast]

A team’s regular season record should be rewarded. Once the playoffs start there’s plenty of intensity without trying to create year in and year out rivalries in the first round. I don’t want to see Oilers vs Kings again. My guess is there’s some advanced metric that suggests the current format generates the max number of playoff games. 

[Patrick]

30 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

They still will get that. Whether its us or the Avs or the Stars who make it out of round 1, that sets up an epic round 2 matchup.

Which then creates an epic Western Conference Championship Series matchup between who ever wins the Central and Pacific.

And then the Cup.

Huh? How does having one of the top 3 teams in the NHL eliminated in the first round keep the better teams in longer? 

[Patrick]

2 minutes ago, Burnt Toast said:

A team’s regular season record should be rewarded. Once the playoffs start there’s plenty of intensity without trying to create year in and year out rivalries in the first round. I don’t want to see Oilers vs Kings again. My guess is there’s some advanced metric that suggests the current format generates the max number of playoff games. 

When Bettmans involved any assumptions about reason and logic should be thrown out the window. Egomaniac.

[mnfaninnc]

I agree with BK97. So, let's take a look at what would probably happen: No, if things ended today, we would not be the 3rd seed, we would be the 4th seed and playing either the Ducks or Oilers. Both have a lot of talent. but as happens in the conference seeding, division champs are 1 &  2. We've done well against the Oilers in the past, and the Ducks, for that matter, but both would be formidable opponents. 

I like it just the way it is. Promoting division playoff matchups is the way to go. The only thing the NHL has whiffed on is penalizing the Central Division teams because of their time zone. This is not needed. I have no problem with a 9 or 10 pm start if we are playing on the West Coast, but if we're at home, those game should start no later than 8 pm Eastern (sorry, I'm in Eastern time). 

Playoffs are there to get 2 participants for the Stanley Cup. You're going to face some really good teams when you're looking at the top half of the league. Don't like you're playoff opponent? Then win the division! Here's the real thing: "To be the man, you've got to beat the man." Ric Flair has it right, if you want the Cup, you've got to beat 4 really good teams. Getting to the SCFs should not be easy, it's the hardest trophy in sports to win. 

All this whining about matchups is just plain off. You play who your opponent is. Injuries play a huge part. But the bottom line is you need to be the 1st team to win 16 games. Nobody cares who the opponent is, the goal is to win 16 games. "Just do it."

[Burnt Toast]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

Then win the division!

Gotta believe that the Aves agree with this opinion and in part motivating them this year. Last playoffs they got stuck in the grind. Shouldn’t the second place team get rewarded as well? In this respect  the NFL gets fantastic matchups with the best teams finding their way to the conference championships. I think it helps build momentum. 

[Beast]

I don’t care about the system as much as many.  Fans care about it more than players.  A lot of players I see answering questions on it this year  say the same thing.  You have to beat the best teams to win the Cup.  Nobody wants a shortcut.  They welcome the challenge.  They care more about stupid travel schedules and game times more than anything.

I don’t think “having better teams around longer” means anything.  If anything, it may drive more “views” in the early rounds.   If it was costing the NHL in ratings, they would change it immediately.  You’re also still going to get the best team coming out of each conference.  A particular matchup being in the first round vs. the second really only gets fans worked up that want the moral victory of their team winning a series and getting to watch a few more games.

I get both sides, but don’t really care.  I lean towards siding with many of the players.  If we go through Dallas and Colorado, there’s no question who the better team is.  Do we really want to beat the Kings, then get lucky and have a MacKinnon or Rantanen injury, or something?  I want to be a team that actually is the best, beats the best teams out there, and wins on their merit.

Also, imagine the confidence level of a team going into the conference finals after beating Dallas then Colorado.  You’d think you’re an unstoppable force at that point.

If this team can’t get out of the first round against Dallas, they weren’t good enough to win the Cup.  I don’t think anyone’s intimate goal should be to play the worst team possible in the first round just for a moral victory.  I just don’t see the appeal.

Edited December 26, 2025 by Beast

[Beast]

11 minutes ago, Burnt Toast said:

Gotta believe that the Aves agree with this opinion and in part motivating them this year. Last playoffs they got stuck in the grind. Shouldn’t the second place team get rewarded as well? In this respect  the NFL gets fantastic matchups with the best teams finding their way to the conference championships. I think it helps build momentum. 

My opinion is they’ve had 82 games to build momentum.  Shouldn’t need a warm up in the first round of the playoffs.

I think the difference in talent between say the 3rd seed and the 6th seed is way overblown.  It may be a little more pronounced this year with the Avs and Dallas being such wagons, but that’s the exception not the rule.  You won’t have that in 95% of NHL seasons.

Hockey is also a game where you more often see a team that’s better at playoff hockey.  A team like the Panthers or Lightning could be the 7 seed in their conference, and are still considered a favorite to win the Cup.  Is playing them really a reward for the 2 seed?

I don’t think the matchups matter that much.

[Burnt Toast]

1 hour ago, Beast said:

I just don’t see the appeal

For me it’s very appealing. I didn’t have any problem with the Wolves on court celebration when they won a play in game. Certainly it’s led to more success over the next few years. It’s a win. I’d guess the Sabres would take making the playoffs as a step in the right direction. The NHL playoff format isn’t a big deal for me. Last year it looked wonderful!! Winning a round or even two this year would help give this current Wild roster some much needed confidence and experience. As you stated it’s about winning a SC, let’s get as close as possible,  I’ll be celebrating on the way. 

[mnfaninnc]

22 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

Shouldn’t the second place team get rewarded as well?

The reward is the 2nd place team gets to play the 3rd place team with home ice advantage. While I don't think that's a big deal, it usually means an owner gets 3 home playoff games in that round. I'd rather start things out on the road since I believe it is easier to steal one of the 1st 2 games. 

The biggest advantage could be finishing 7th or 8th in the conference and getting to jump to the other division like we did last season. At stake, I believe, is the importance of divisions. If you are going to seed 1-8, then it's division champions 1 & 2 and the rest are WCs. Get rid of the divisions and just do conferences then. Should the NHL decide to expand even more, this may be the way they go. 

By the way, I am all for extra Wild Cards playing an immediate 2/3 series to get in. This would put 20 teams in a playoff format, 7 plays 10, 8 plays 9. Then we go into the divisional matchups. 2 and 3 start off early, and 1 and winner starts off a day later. Keep the games within the time zones, and please utilize ABC for playoff games. 

Also, in the NFL, there have been several times where the divisional winner with a lousy record has upset the highly touted WC team and moved on. They have 4 divisions of 4 teams in each conference. Maybe it would be a solution to build 8 divisions instead of having 4? Just trying to think outside the box a little.

[Burnt Toast]

17 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I am all for extra Wild Cards playing an immediate 2/3 series to get in

The league should make these types of playoff games financially attractive for the players. I think it would be fun. Unfortunately that ship may have sailed with the extension of the regular season to 84 games. I like your playoff format with seeding through the entire Conference. 

[FredJohnson]

On 12/25/2025 at 1:01 PM, TCMooch said:

If the owners wanted it then it would be changed. For whatever reason they want to keep this stupid playoff format

Good point. I am left to wonder which ownership(s) this benefits. The Pacific teams don’t strike me as having enough clout to drive this. Is it most likely that teams in the East benefit most? 

[raithis]

On 12/26/2025 at 9:46 AM, mnfaninnc said:

I like it just the way it is. Promoting division playoff matchups is the way to go. The only thing the NHL has whiffed on is penalizing the Central Division teams because of their time zone. This is not needed. I have no problem with a 9 or 10 pm start if we are playing on the West Coast, but if we're at home, those game should start no later than 8 pm Eastern (sorry, I'm in Eastern time). 

Makes me wonder what Nashville fans think.  Half of Tennessee is in the Eastern time zone.  Must we great when all their start times are late too. 

Of course, right now they would probably just be happy to be in playoff discussion.

[FredJohnson]

On 12/27/2025 at 9:22 AM, mnfaninnc said:

At stake, I believe, is the importance of divisions. If you are going to seed 1-8, then it's division champions 1 & 2 and the rest are WCs. Get rid of the divisions and just do conferences then. Should the NHL decide to expand even more, this may be the way they go.

Agreed. It’s gotten kinda stale already. Example: The Oilers and Kings have played each other in the first round the last 4 years. 🥱 

[mnfaninnc]

On 12/29/2025 at 6:05 PM, FredJohnson said:

Agreed. It’s gotten kinda stale already. Example: The Oilers and Kings have played each other in the first round the last 4 years. 🥱 

And, yet, when there is a Kings/Oilers matchup, you don't really think of the hate between those 2 clubs. Maybe they do, but their games are at 10 est, so I'd never see it!