A New NHL Format Is Needed

My opinion may be biased, but I believe the NHL season is by far the most grueling and taxing out of all the major North American team sports. It’s almost as physical as football but equal in length to the NBA and Major League Baseball.

The level of separation in the NHL today is razor thin. Separating the No. 4 seed from the No. 16 is almost negligible.

The San Jose Sharks finished with the second best point total in the league and what’s their reward? They get to face the rough-and-tumble Calgary Flames out of the gate. Analysts, players and fans alike all agree that either team could win and the word “upset” shouldn’t be uttered once. Meanwhile the Eastern Conferences No. 2 seed, the Pittsburgh Penguins, have the fortune of taking on the Ottawa Senators as their first round opponent.

No offense to the Senators organization, players or their fans, but after viewing last night's game I don’t think the Sens will have to suffer through the inconvenience of playing spring hockey for very long.

So why not reward the teams that do manage to excel over the course of the marathon that is the NHL season by allowing them to choose their playoff opponents? Let’s think of it as a ‘Playoff Team Draft’.

I’ll wait for your laughter to subside before I continue with my ingenious idea.

The Red Wings won the President’s Trophy so they would get the first pick. Undoubtedly, they would have chosen the Ottawa Senators. Not only are they a team that resides within the Eastern Time Zone, but their free-fall would make Enron stock jealous.

San Jose would choose second and I would assume that they would prefer a number of teams other than Calgary.

This would continue until the top eight teams completed their draft. Every round would feature a new draft with the highest seed retaining the first overall pick.

This system, while completely unconventional, would bring a massive amount of publicity to the league and would truly reward teams that faired so well over a grueling 82-game season. It might even prevent coaches from sitting star players down the stretch in pursuit of a more favorable seeding.

On top of that, imagine the bad blood and great press that would ensue from teams being selected as a ‘weaker’ seed or more favorable opponent. I’m sure the players and management from the club selected first in the draft wouldn’t think kindly on being viewed as the weakest lamb in the herd.

I’m aware that some of you who are reading this now may need stitches to close up any ruptures induced from laughter over my unusual proposal. Nevertheless, more than likely, there will be one or two groups of fans who might pray for my playoff system once their highly seeded teams are ousted before April comes to a close.