NHL Realignment: Is the Four-Conference Format Good for the Playoffs?

Forget the regular season, the playoffs are where real hockey happens.

Only 16 teams—roughly half the NHL—remain in mid-April. Unlike the birds that begin to fly back north at that time of year, hockey players on non-playoff teams fly south to play golf and contemplate a season that could have been.

Meanwhile, epic battles are taking place seven games at a time.

The victors receive a cup—the Stanley Cup, the oldest trophy in North American professional sports. It is a symbol of the greatness achieved that year that will stand eternal, as it is also the only trophy in North American professional sports that bears the names of the champions that held it.

The new realignment of the NHL with four conferences ensures without a doubt that the race to the Stanley Cup Finals will become even more intriguing next year, due to the intense playoff rivalries that it will inevitably create.

You can say what you will about so-called rivalries during the regular season. They can sometimes be downright boring.

But with the stakes raised and both teams fighting for survival, playoff rivalries are unmatched in terms of excitement. Even with games that are typically low-scoring and rarely contain fights, playoff hockey manages to capture our attention.

The possibility of regular playoff series between the Leafs and Habs, the Red Wings and Blackhawks, the Penguins and Flyers and the Canucks and Oilers amongst many more rivalries should be enough to get even casual fans riled up.

Critics might say that fans will eventually get bored with playing the same teams in the playoffs, but that is nonsense for four reasons.

First, they won’t actually be playing the same teams every time. Sure, for a seven-team conference there are only six different possible teams that a team could play during the first two rounds of the playoffs, but there are 105 different seeding combinations.

Second, playing a familiar rival is almost always more interesting than a matchup with less history. Fans of the opposing teams are more familiar with each other’s players and their tendencies.

Third, playoff hockey is almost never boring. According to NHL.com, higher seeds tend to advance more frequently than lower seeds but not in comparison to other major sports leagues such as the NBA. Teams that didn’t fare so well in the regular season tend to elevate their play on a more important stage.

Finally, building playoff rivalries creates traditions in a league where tinkering with the game has become an almost yearly event. It creates consistency. In order for the NHL brand to continue its rise, consistency is necessary so that fans remain familiar with the product.

Whether the GMs that voted for this realignment actually took all of this into account or were simply thinking about travel logistics, it still remains that the playoffs in 2013 are going to be a must-watch for all hockey fans.