With 16 out of 32 teams in the playoffs, the National Hockey League (NHL) believes it has a perfect formula and there is no question of changing.
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At least that’s what commissioner Gary Bettman suggested on Wednesday night when he was in Edmonton on the sidelines of Game 2 of the series between the Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings.
“Having half the teams in the playoffs is the right balance, it creates fantastic competition throughout the season and makes games more meaningful,” Bettman said at a press conference.
“There is nothing, in any other sport [professionnel]which comes to equal our first round, “said the commissioner, noting that several current playoff duels in progress could require six or seven games.
Through the ages
The current trend, whether in the NBA or Major League Baseball, is to increase the number of teams making the playoffs. On the other hand, Bettman prefers to keep the current format in the NHL, despite the recent addition of two formations, the Vegas Golden Knights, in 2017-2018, and the Seattle Kraken, during the last season.
There was a time when, in the early 1980s, 16 out of 21 clubs were pretty much qualified for the NHL playoffs. It was probably too high a ratio.
In more recent history, remember that the pandemic had prompted the National League to exceptionally expand its playoffs to 24 teams in 2020, by adding a qualifying round. However, this is not a long-term solution.
Why change for the sake of changing?
Elsewhere, the NBA has integrated a formula betting on 20 teams, where “play-in” duels come to establish the 16 finalist formations for the traditional end-of-season tournament. The recent negotiations surrounding the collective agreement in major league baseball have for their part made it possible to increase, from 10 to 12, the number of teams taking part in the playoffs.
“Changing to change or because others are doing it can be good in certain circumstances, but for us, at the moment, we believe that our format is the right one”, judged the commissioner.
“The Stanley Cup is the most difficult championship to win,” he also underlined in passing, praising his circuit.