Here's why the current NHL playoff format will never favour the Colorado Avalanche
Photo credit: 5280.com
The Colorado Avalanche's early playoff exit has reignited a familiar debate within NHL circles, one that questions the fairness of the league's current playoff format.
The argument can be had that the structure can unfairly penalize strong teams by forcing early matchups against other top contenders, potentially derailing championship-caliber runs too soon.
The Colorado Avalanche will not have success unless the NHL changes their playoff format.
Under the current structure, the playoff format automatically awards the top two seeds in each conference to the division winners, writes Nestor Quixtan from Mile High Sticking
Meanwhile, the second and third-place teams within each division are matched up in the first round, often leading to high-stakes, early battles between elite clubs.
"As a 'reward', the division winners get to play the wild card teams, which could be considered relatively inferior to the division winners." -Quixtan
As this year's playoffs showed, even a wild card team like the St. Louis Blues can push a top seed to the brink of elimination.
"The Colorado Avalanche would benefit from a system similar to MLB or NBA." -Quixtan
In baseball, all six division winners earn automatic playoff berths, along with three wild card teams. Here's the key difference, the top two division winners receive automatic byes into the Division Series, while the third division winner and the three wild card teams face-off in a best-of-three Wild Card Series to determine who advances to play the top two division winners.
"For the Toronto Maple Leafs, it would have meant skipping the dreaded first round altogether. For the Avalanche, it would have meant playing anyone else than the Dallas Stars." -Quixtan
This concept is just a rough outline of what a new format might look like in practice. Still, the NHL could take a page from the NBA and MLB by expanding the number of teams competing for postseason spots, creating more excitement and potentially fairer matchups throughout the postseason.
We'll see what the future of the NHL has to offer.
Previously on Avalanche Insider
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