Maybe I’m becoming a fan of jerseys instead of being a fan of hockey!
In the past, I didn’t really favor any teams except for the Habs ( As a kid and I put a stop to that nonsense in the mid-80’s), and the Penguins ( I was a fan of Lemieux and Coffey). I admit that I like the Nordiques/Avalanches too but I wouldn’t be considered a fan. In the past few years, I have become a little more of a fan of two teams: The Pens ( again because of the Crosby-Malkin-Stall!) and the Canucks (maybe because of some BC nostalgia). Both are usually fast skating teams and their players were creating great plays. I find it makes for entertaining hockey.
But today, as the Canucks are down 2-0 in their series and the Pens 3-0, I find myself a little annoyed with the playoffs. This is the first year that I feel like this. I have heard variations of the following sentence from some fans before: “My team’s out so I have no interest in watching anymore” (Habs, Bruins and Leafs fans often think like this). And now, I start to feel the same way!
Trying to analyse this made me think (among other things-like why do I care!) about how meaningless the regular season is for the NHL and how long the playoffs season is. I don’t know of any other professional sport where playoffs last for so long. I know that the money aspect will never allow it but I think that a different but shorter structure for the playoffs would be much better.
Here is my suggestion:
-The top three teams ( Points total or Divisional leaders-this doesn’t really matters to me) make the playoffs for sure but have a week off at the end of the season.
-Teams in position 4 through 7 have a very short playoff : 4 vs 7,one game, 5 vs 6, one game, winner of both games meet for one game to decide which team will face the top team in the conference. This would take about a week and then we would have 4 teams by conference playing the same way it is now (best of 7).
-To recuperate some of the lost revenues, the regular season could be extended by 8 games (90 games) so all teams would benefit.
This way, the regular season would mean a lot more.
I think I’m going to send my proposal to Bettman;-)
How about the bottom 2 or 3 teams of the league get sent to a lower league, to be replaced by the top teams of those lower leagues? That’s real incentive for the lower league teams (they can be promoted to the NHL), and would remove teams that are just not competitive enough. And it would give more meaning to league season performance.
I don’t understand how an elimination tournament is considered more of a measure of a team than a full season of games. Here comes the soccer comparison: the ‘champion’ is the winner of the league. The domestic cups are often seen as ‘secondary’ tournaments, and not as prestigious. But the other side of the coin is that teams from lower leagues are often allowed to play in the cup tournaments. Imagine Prince Rupert’s hockey team being able to progress to play against NHL teams.
Meanwhile, my wife tells me that she’s hoping LA goes through to the next round. I told her to keep that opinion to herself, unless she wants her tires slashed!
I understand the soccer comparison and I think this works well for soccer but it might be difficult for hockey. Two factors might pose difficulties: distance and farm teams.
Distance: Most of the soccer leagues are in smaller countries and when relegation happens, the change of venue doesn’t affect the two leagues as much as it would in hockey. Lower leagues in hockey are mostly regional while the NHL is continental.
Farm team: Most NHL teams have affiliated farm teams playing in the lower leagues. This means that a team moving up would be playing against it’s own organisation.
The whole structure would have to be redone and the NHL, like FIFA;-) doesn’t like change!
The good old days. 70 game schedule. 2 rounds of playoffs and no games in May.
Now an 82 game schedule. 4 rounds of playoffs and Stanley Cup riots on a warm June night.
And totally off topic. I was watching the reporters quiz Alain Vigneault about the Daniel Sedin injury and the Luongo/Schneider decision and my first thought is why aren’t the reporters in Victoria and Ottawa as passionate and as forceful with politicians as they are with hockey coaches. If Vancouver has any sort of playoff run, the top story every night will be a 15 minute summary of the previous game and an analysis of the upcoming game. In the meantime, Enridge could have half the pipeline built, some F-35s could be bombing New Brunswick, and Citywest could drop a couple of thousands calls and nobody would notice.
The Farm Team thing isn’t an issue, at least in Europe. UEFA doesn’t allow two teams owned by the same owner (or club) to compete in the same league. Sometimes a farm team that plays in a lower league is promoted, but they don’t qualify, so the next placed team is promoted instead. This happened in the Spanish League (2nd division) last year. Barcelona’s B team came in 3rd, but didn’t qualify for promotion.
The distance thing is an issue for sure. But it’s also addressed in European leagues – leagues below the 2nd division are usually regional in nature. But a team can still be promoted if they win a regional league. They don’t necessarily have to accept the promotion, though. Of course, the differences are greater in North America.
I do agree that the league season has to mean more, though. Is it true that teams that know they’re not going to make the playoffs try to do worse so that they’ll have a better draft pick the next year?
In many soccer leagues, it is literally down to the last game (and sometimes last minute) to decide whether you stay in the league or are relegated. Lots of examples of a single goal on the last day of the season making the difference between staying in the league and getting dropped to a lower league.
I’d say the biggest resistance to changing to a relegation and promotion system in the NHL would be the team owners themselves. Dropping down a league can mean losing a lot of money (TV revenue, ticket sales, etc). And many teams who haven’t been careful financially are ruined by relegation. Higher stakes!
The Farm Team thing isn’t an issue, at least in Europe. UEFA doesn’t allow two teams owned by the same owner (or club) to compete in the same league. Sometimes a farm team that plays in a lower league is promoted, but they don’t qualify, so the next placed team is promoted instead. This happened in the Spanish League (2nd division) last year. Barcelona’s B team came in 3rd, but didn’t qualify for promotion
I said most teams but it’s actually all teams. The three main levels of Hockey are : top level: NHL; second level: American Hockey League;third level: East Coast Hockey League and Central Hockey League. The NHL teams all have farm teams in the AHL and a lot of them have affiliates in the ECHL. So almost none of the team would qualify for promotion.
dwhite: I agree with you. Studies of the French media in Quebec have shown that the Habs occupy a lot of the news coverage.[/quote]