We know it has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I’m not sure if this definition applies to the NHL and the match format or to me Writing roughly annually for the past decade.
Both, I suspect.
I understand that the NHL does nothing to offer rewards for success and everything it can to level the playing field. the The maximum penalty, of course, is the core of the league’s obligation to enforce restrictions That tendon is most important for successful teams more quickly than others.
So does this incredibly unfair format in which two of the five currently best teams in the league—the fourth Toronto and the fifth Tampa Bay—meet in the first round. Meanwhile, the 10th-best or 11th-best team in the NHL — Seattle and Vegas, respectively — will be guaranteed to advance to the second round if this matchup continues.
These are the inequalities that are built into the 2-to-3 first-round match. It happens almost every season. Last season, the Maple Leafs-Lightning first round matched the fourth-best and eighth-best teams. The format was different during the 2020-21 and 2019-20 seasons affected by COVID. In 2017-18, the teams with the best records in the NHL played Nashville and Winnipeg, respectively, in the second round, while Boston and Toronto came out 4-7 in the first round.
In 2016-17, Pittsburgh faced second-ranked fourth overall Columbus—yes, that’s right—in the first round. The year before that, the third year Blues met the fifth Blackhawks in the opening round. This is not a whim. It is the coordination feature.
It can’t be about the rivalries because the NHL has gone to great lengths to make them anachronisms. There is no legitimate reason why the NHL should not adopt the 1-8 conference refill format that existed from 1999 to 2013, except that it could mean the end of the brackets.
Yes that’s it. Marketing brackets take precedence over competitive integrity.
We know that if the NHL can legitimize, say, No. 12 and No. 14 clubs overall reaching the Conference Finals, that would reinforce the message that if you can make it, you have a chance. This represents genetic engineering. It’s the Ninth Avenue motto.
But why in the world do club owners go along with this folly? Why would owners who spend to the limit, hire the right people, deliver a first-rate product (year after year after year), and endorse a system where their team has an excessive chance of getting a maximum of four home playoff dates?
another season. Another tournament in which elite teams face each other in the first round. Perhaps the US Open could offer a first-round match between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in August. It would make as much sense as the National Hockey League game format.
Year after year. This is not just crazy. It is asinine.
More than a fair amount of credit goes to Gary Bettman for his steadfast opposition to adding a play-by-play tier to a tournament that could include a team that might be 22nd overall. Why anyone would think that a team that finishes 10th in a 16-team conference deserves a crack at the Stanley Cup is beyond me.
Opting out of Ivan Provorov’s Pride Night in Philadelphia on January 17th It seems to have had a scary ripple effect that has reached at least as far as New York, where Rangers on Friday backtracked from their public commitment to warming up before the game wearing Pride T-shirts while using a Pride themed ribbon..
The organization has acknowledged the LGBTQ+ community throughout Pride Night, but has repeatedly refused to provide an explanation as to why the team performed warm-ups in their custom Liberty jerseys with players using their usual black ribbon.
It was not decreed by the NHL. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley told The Post in an email that “every club is entitled to proceed as they see fit”.
After that game on Friday, two players separately told my teammate, Molly Walker and myself, that the players had not been consulted and that they only knew they were going to wear their usual warms when they reported to the rink.
The conclusion is that a high-ranking executive fears the prospect of withdrawal could become divisive and steps in to prevent it. It should be noted, however, that the Rangers wore rainbow warm-ups and used rainbow ribbon in celebration of Pride Night the previous two seasons.
No one will step forward to take credit or accountability for the call. It is as if it was an immaculate decision, made by way of a plank on top of a mountain.
But it’s about more than just Rangers.
Much more.
Because if one protester can shut down a league-wide program for fear of imitating behavior, what are we going to do here?
What do we do?
A question for our time: Are the Islanders—2-7-3 in their previous 12 games, 11th in percentage points in the East heading into their Saturday night game against the Golden Knights—among the NHL’s biggest disappointments, or are they exactly what people should have expected?
I think Both things can be true simultaneously.
So, the 1984 tank pattern. As the Penguins were embarking on a brazen recruiting spree, Mario Lemieux, Devils coach Tom McPhee was using the No. 66 prospect as a shout-out to fringe forwards like Rick Meagher, Gary McAdam and Glenn Mirkowski not to let him. Come to New Jersey and take one of their jobs.
Wait, Kirk Mueller II in general wouldn’t do the same thing?
In recognition of the No. 50 spot, Will Coyle made his NHL debut on Wednesday for the Rangers, ranking players who wore numbers in the 50s for our three teams: 1. Ryan Lindgren, No. 55, Rangers; 2 – Frans Nielsen, No. 51, Islanders; 3 – Casey Cyzikas, No. 53, Islanders; 4 – Johnny Boychuck, #55, Islanders; 5. Jason Blake, No. 55, Islanders. Honorable Mention: Fedor Tyutin, No. 51, Rangers; Recall: Marty McSorley, No. 55, Rangers.
Well, who is back on points? Denis Potvin and Stefan Pearson or Brian Leach and Sergey Zubov?