Cale Makar Says NHL Players Want 1-to-8 Stanley Cup Playoffs Bracket Format to Return

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar feels there is consensus push among NHL players to return to straight conference seeding in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.

"I feel like all the players want back to 1-to-8," Makar told Wyshynski.

The NHL's current playoff bracket format has been in place since the 2013-14 season, except the two seasons impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic from 2019 to 2021.

This bracket features three leaders from each of four divisions, as well as two Wild Card teams from each conference.

Teams start out the playoffs by playing either a division opponent or a Wild Card team in the first round.

From 1998 to 2013, however, the NHL rewarded the top eight teams from each conference with playoff berths.

Six division winners earned the top three seeds in each conference, while the remaining playoff spots were seeded by regular-season record. The No. 1 seed in each conference was then matched up with bottom-seeded team.

The 1-through-8 system theoretically gave top teams a more significant reward for climbing the regular-season standings.

Makar and the Avalanche, for example, finished the 2024-25 season as the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference but were eliminated by the No. 3-seeded Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs.

A straight conference seeding format would have matched Makar and the Avs up with the No. 4-seeded Los Angeles Kings and theoretically given them a better shot at the second round.

Despite Makar's confidence in his fellow players' support, playoff seeding is not currently set to be addressed in the next NHL CBA. The NHL and NHL Players' Association ratified a new collective bargaining agreement in July which expanded the regular season to 84 games but did not change the bracket format.