The NHL season has reached the halfway mark which means we are starting to see teams assert themselves in two categories: playoff teams or teams in contention for the first-overall pick in the upcoming draft. Every year, there seems to be some kind of smoke about the NHL expanding the playoffs, but the last two years in particular, Elliotte Friedman has brought it up.
On the 32 Thoughts podcast episode released Jan. 8, Friedman was talking about the Eastern Conference playoff race and said this:
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen this before. (It’s) time for the expanded playoffs.”
He also proposed the NHL expanding playoffs in March of 2024, when he went on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast and proposed that the NHL expand to a “20 team playoff” consisting of one-through-eight playoff seeding in each conference with a play-in to decide who gets the seventh and eight seeds in each conference. Here, I’ll explain it more.
In each conference, the teams that finish in seeds one through six are in the playoffs. Then you get to seeds seven through 10. This is how it would work:
A best-of-three series would take place, but it’s not your usual best of three. The higher seed entering the play-in matchups would get home ice for all three games. Game 1 would be just a 60-minute game. If the game ends up in a tie, then there would be no overtime period. That would mean the winner of Game 2 would move on. If the series is tied at one, Game 3 becomes a sudden-death overtime period and first goal wins.
- 7v10 / 8v9
- Winner of 7v10 takes on winner of 8v9 (winners of this series gets the seventh seed, loser gets the eight seed)
“I think it would make more money. I think it’s better for television.”@FriedgeHNIC is all for expanding the playoffs with more teams. Noted traditionalist @BizNasty2point0 not so much. https://t.co/dCv00oMt3i pic.twitter.com/kJUasC7IoC
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) March 5, 2024
There was also some chatter after the NHL held the 24-team playoff format in 2020, when the NHL had to shut down its season due to COVID-19, that the NHL could implement a play-in round permanently, but that never happened.
Why the NHL Should Expand the Playoffs
The NHL is a business, and the way the NHL is moving recently is all based on television ratings and maximizing the growth of the game (which in large part would make them more money long-term.) If the NHL added a play-in round I think a lot of people would watch it. Extra games would make the NHL more money, the teams involved would be able to make more money, and it would adds more drama to an already-drama-filled playoff format.
For the most part, the same teams have finished in relatively the same spots over the past few years in each conference. An expanded format could create new rivalries, which the NHL has been pushing for the last 10-12 years. After a few years of the same teams playing each other, there becomes a hatred for one another.
What I’m about to say might not bode well with some people, but it gives the chance for other teams to sneak in and make some noise. Do you know how exciting it would be if the 10th seed ended up defeating the seventh seed in the first round, then moved on and captured the seventh seed going into the playoff bracket? Exciting stuff. Unlike the NBA, which has implemented the play-in round, the NHL has the parity to make it work. There are currently 23 teams at or above a .500 points percentage. There’s most definitely a possibility of multiple upsets.
One final thought here: what if the NHL just did a 20-team playoff, both division winners got a first-round bye, and the third seed played the lowest seed and so on?
Why the NHL Should Not Expand the Playoffs
The NHL has not really seen an expansion of the playoff format since the 1993-1994 season when they expanded to a one-versus-eight seeding in each conference. There’s been changes to it, most notably in 2013 when the NHL changed from that seeding to the current format. There also is not a big need to expand the playoffs, at least at this moment in time. Exactly half of the league makes the playoffs, which is sufficient . Usually, not many wild-card teams end up making it past the first round anyways, so there would be no point in adding two more teams from each conference when the same results would transpire.
Related: NHL 2024-2025 Power Rankings: Week 14
You’d like the best teams in the playoffs, which is happening, but what if the 10th seed goes on an insane run and somehow makes it to the Stanley Cup finals? Some would say they weren’t even supposed to be in the playoffs in the first place. That’s an issue you run into with the expanded playoff format idea.
The NHL playoffs are already long as it is, lasting roughly two months. So, the NHL would have to have the play-in immediately after the season ends to fit it in. The playoffs usually don’t start until the tail end of the second week of April or even the third week, then the NHL Entry Draft is almost immediately after the end of the Stanley Cup Final.
If the Final goes a full seven games, the draft is only a week away and the NHL free agency is July 1, just a few days after the draft. That’s just a whole cluster of events happening in a short period of time, which could be more detrimental than beneficial to the league.
Should the NHL take on Friedman’s proposal and expand the playoffs? Comment below.
