It has been rumoured that some NHL owners want to expand the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was reported by Elliott Friedman on Saturday Night Headlines and the 31 Thoughts Podcast. However, it has also been reported that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is very opposed to the idea. NHL fans may not like Bettman, however, he may just be correct in this situation. Here is why expanding the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff format doesn’t make sense.
Stanley Cup Playoffs Don’t Need Expanding
NHL First Round Best As It Is
One of the biggest parts of the playoffs is the chaos that is the first round. Because of the parity in the NHL, the first round is always crazy. An upset in the first round is not uncommon and unlike other leagues, a bottom seed upset usually means they have a real good chance in the next round.
Adding more teams into the playoffs would water down the “round of 16”. Making the chaos less entertaining. Teams struggle to stay healthy throughout the playoffs as it is. Making them play 2 or more games would not only add the risk for injuries but also lead to one team being more fatigued. This would lead to less balance and overall less competition in the first round.
Overall, some of the best parts of NHL playoffs is the upsets and the fact that everyone does have a chance. Adding more teams to this would make it less entertaining for the fans.
NHL Playoffs Stretch On Already
It’s not a hot take to say that playing hockey into June can stretch on for people. By the time the 3rd and 4th rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs come around, some fans are burnt out. Whether that’s too much hockey watched, or less interest because their team was eliminated.
You will always have the diehards watching to the end. As well as the fans that support the two teams that are left. However, if the idea is to grow the game, stretching later into June may not be the best idea. Go ask casual or non-NHL fans what they think of the playoffs. Odds are, a common response will be “hockey into June doesn’t feel right”. Lots of people prefer other activities when the weather is nice or watching other sports.
Adding in more teams would just make this all drag on longer. Whether you add two teams, or six, the playoffs would have at least half a week added to them. If fans already start to lose interest near the end due to the length, adding more teams will not help this. When you add in the fact that more games once again may mean more injuries and fatigue, the product itself would just be not as good as it could be.
Regular Season
One of the biggest problems with adding more teams is that it would make the regular season feel very useless. Even now, some people think a regular season that sees 50 percent or more of teams make playoffs is too much. In other sports like football and baseball, it is much less.
If you have 24 teams into a playoff, that means 75 percent of the league is making it. What is the point of an 82 game season then? It would stretch on way too long. It would also start to lose meaning for many of the teams come earlier in the season. If 75 percent of the teams make it, a team that starts hot knows they are almost guaranteed to make it.
This once again goes back to length. The regular season can drag on as it is. Making more teams make playoffs would make it less important. Fans may not bother tuning into a game in February if they know their 13th place team is comfortably in a playoff spot.
Growing The Game
Overall, the league’s goal should be growing the game. Expanding the Stanley Cup Playoffs doesn’t help to do that. It may help a few owners each year get a few extra bucks. However, when you look at the wider implications it may hurt more than help in general. It’d water down the “awe” of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. It would also make the regular season less interesting and give people more of a reason to not tune in to every game.
Making it easier for teams to make playoffs takes away from the great thing the NHL already has. As well as making other parts of the season worse. It just doesn’t make sense to expand the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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