How should the NHL proceed if and when play can resume?
As we enter into an unprecedented - and quite frankly, depressing - era in sports, we thought this would be good time to try to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Because, hopefully, the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball will resume play in 4-6 weeks.
And if that happens, each league must have a plan on how to proceed.
For the NHL, that almost certainly means calling off the regular season and jumping right into the Stanley Cup playoffs - ideally in front of capacity crowds.
There were varying opinions on television and across social media on how the postseason should look, so I wanted to show you all what Commissioner Dietz would do if I was in charge:
1. Expand the field
If the regular season is declared over, there is no way you can use total points to determine the field because all of the teams have played between 68-71 games. So the NHL will likely use points percentage.
Fine. That's Step 1.
But look at the NHL standings and what you'll see is that Nashville and Vancouver, who both have 78 points and a .565 winning percentage, would qualify over Winnipeg (80 points, .563 pct). The same thing happens in the East where the Islanders (80 points, .588 pct.) would bounce Columbus (81 points, .579 pct.).
The solution is simple. Let's create a little winner-take-all drama by allowing four more teams in - two in each conference. That would set up these matchups:
• Minnesota at Nashville
• Winnipeg at Vancouver
• Florida at Carolina
• Columbus at New York Islanders
The winners would then go on to face the division winners.
This scenario is the exactly what former Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville suggested in our "What's the one thing you'd change in the NHL?" series that ran last season. And, incredibly, his Panthers would be one of the teams to qualify.
If this were done, you'd hear plenty of whining and gnashing of teeth from the New York Rangers because they are .001 percentage points behind Florida.
But, hey, they had 70 games to find another point somewhere. So deal with it an move on because no system is going to be perfect at this point.
2. Adjust series
After the play-in games, each series should be a best-of-five. The better seed plays the first two games on the road then gets the remaining three games at home.
Then play the Stanley Cup Final as a 2-3-2 best-of-seven. (Why don't they do this anyway, by the way?)
This cuts down on travel, thus lessening the chances for infections.
The big question is, what do you do about allowing fans in? Hopefully the coronavirus is contained by mid-April or mid-May and we can watch games with full stadiums.
If not, finishing the season with nobody in the stands seems preferable to not finishing it at all.
3. Final thoughts
One analyst suggested allowing 24 teams into the dance. And guess what that would mean? You guessed it - the Blackhawks would qualify.
Yep, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Co. would be the 12th seed in the West. The plan would be to give the top four teams in each conference a bye and make the 5-12 seeds play a best-of-three series.
Assuming seeds were based on total points, that means the Hawks would play the Edmonton Oilers.
Getting excited?
Well, don't.
This seems like a far-fetched option at best.
But let's say we get to late May and then the league decides it can resume. There's not much time left at that point, so the best option might be to stick with 16 teams and:
• Play best-of-three series in the first two rounds.
• Play best-of-five in the conference finals
• Play best-of-seven in the Stanley Cup Final.
For now, we hope everyone stays safe, this situation is over quickly and we can all get back to watching sports - and especially hockey - sooner rather than later.
How to organize the Stanley Cup Playoffs
Stanley Cup playoffs?
John Dietz would organize the beginning of the postseason based on points percentage. He would also add 2 teams to each conference, creating 4 winner-take-all play-in games. Here's how it would look:
<b>Western Conference</b>Division winners:
Team Record Pts. %
St. Louis 42-19-10 .662
Vegas 39-24-8 .606
Divisional matchups:
Team Record Pts. %
Colorado 42-20-8 .657
vs.
Dallas 37-24-8 .594
Edmonton 37-25-9 .585
vs.
Calgary 36-27-7 .564
Play-in games:
Minnesota (.558) at Nashville (.565)
Winnipeg (.563) at Vancouver (.565)
• St. Louis opens with worst remaining team; Vegas opens with other team
<b>Eastern Conference</b>Division winners:
Team Record Pts. %
Boston 44-14-12 .714
Washington 41-20-8 .652
Divisional matchups:
Team Record Pts. %
Tampa Bay 43-21-6 .657
vs.
Toronto 36-25-9 .579
Philadelphia 41-21-7 .645
vs.
Pittsburgh 40-23-6 .623
Play in-games:
Florida (.565) at Carolina (.596)
Columbus (.579) at Islanders (.588)
• Boston opens with worst remaining team; Wash. opens with other team