Colorado Avalanche superstar D-man Cale Makar made his thoughts known regarding the NHL’s current playoff format.
The league’s current system of determining its annual champion has come under scrutiny in recent years. As all Avalanche fans have come to attest, the postseason format in place is not conducive to helping contending teams succeed.
Last spring, the Avalanche were unfortunate victims of the NHL’s current unbalanced playoff format. The Avs-Stars first-round matchup should have been the Western Conference Final. Instead, it was a deathmatch that certainly eliminated one Stanley Cup contender.
Such first-round deathmatches are something players want to move away from. While virtually every player interviewed for a September 15 piece in The Athletic supports the current playoff format involving 16 teams, not all agree on the seeding.
One such player is Avalanche blueliner Cale Makar. Makar had this to say about the NHL’s current playoff format:
“I like the way it is, personally. I think it’s a great playoff format, other than 1 to 8 — we should probably go back to that.”
Back in the day, the NHL seeded eight teams per conference with the top seed facing the eighth, second and seventh, and so on. The seeding created some stunning upsets, while other teams steamrolled through the competition.
But there was something almost certain in the 1-to-8 seeding. Unless there was a major upset at some point, the two best teams in each conference would face off in the Conference Final.
Avalanche would have played LA Kings under old format
The last time the NHL had a 1-to-8 playoff seeding was in 2013. The league tried to spice things up by going to the current divisional seedings. The intent was to foment rivalries. The league got that with the Battle of Ontario between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators.
Meanwhile, other “rivalries” have gotten stale. The Edmonton Oilers and LA Kings met for the fourth season in a row in the first round. And like the previous times, the Oilers prevailed.
For Oilers fans, it was more of a necessary evil. For Kings fans, it was another dreaded meeting with the Oilers. The matchup has lost most of its luster.
Under the old format, however, the Avalanche would have locked horns with the Kings. That situation would have promised an entirely different outcome. The Kings would have faced a completely different opponent, while the Avalanche could have theoretically had an easier path in the first round.
As for the Dallas Stars, they would have run into the Oilers in the first round rather than in the Conference Final. Could the Stars have knocked off the Oilers in the first round? It’s a possibility. The Stars might not have run out of gas against the Oilers in the first round like they did in the third one.
It’s unlikely the NHL will change its playoff format any time soon. So, it remains to be seen who the Avalanche will run into this spring in the opening round.