Jamie Nye: Play-in games don’t add to playoff drama

Opinion

The NHL playoffs are long enough, so why do people want them to drag on even longer?

There is growing chatter that the NHL should adopt the NBA’s play-in tournament to begin the playoffs.

I ask simply: Why?

The National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League adapted their playoff formats during the summer of 2020 when they returned to play after the COVID-19 pandemic paused their seasons in March.

Play-in games seemed understandable because teams weren’t able to play out the full schedule.

However, after those bubble games, the NBA not only decided to keep the play-in but expand it.

And of course the owners took the option to have more ticket and concession revenue, albeit for just six additional games.

And when one league does something, others think, “Maybe we should do that?”

Major League Baseball was the first to adopt play-in games for the wild-card teams but now even MLB has added the more logical best-of-three format to start the post-season rather than a one and done.

But here’s a reminder: MLB only has 10 of 30 teams making the post-season. The NBA and NHL begin their best-of-seven series with 50 per cent of their teams.

That seems pretty fair to me. And while I don’t agree with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on a lot of things, I will agree with him on his position on adopting the NBA’s play-in tournament.

“Diluting the regular season and diluting the playoffs doesn’t make much sense to me. I think having a system where half the teams make the playoffs and half don’t, I think that’s perfect,” Bettman told reporters recently.

Yes, the NHL allows its REGULAR SEASON to decide who gets those precious 16 positions. That seems like a pretty decent play-in tournament.

There would be teams that are clearly deserving of a playoff spot that have a chance to be ousted due to two bad games despite have a far superior 82 in the regular season.

Let’s adopt the NBA’s format for this season’s NHL.

In the Eastern Conference, the New York Islanders and Florida Panthers would play in the 7-8 game to see who would play the Carolina Hurricanes. The loser of the game would then play the winner of the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins, who finished ninth and 10th in the Conference, both a point out of the playoffs.

The drama of giving Sidney Crosby another chance to make the playoffs takes away the drama we had in the last week of the season with the Panthers, Islanders and Penguins adding great drama to see who would claim those last two spots.

With no other team close in the race for spots seven to 10, fans wouldn’t have been intrigued for the final two weeks of the regular season because they were all locked into the play-in tournament. The top six were also decided.

And then in the Western Conference, the Seattle Kraken — which had five points more than the Winnipeg Jets — would have a one-game play-in game or would be ousted from the playoffs if they lost.

Again: What’s the point of the regular season?

Then the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators play a game to see who plays the loser. Theoretically, you could have the Predators at 92 points oust the 100-point Kraken.

Ridiculous, especially as we watch the start of the NHL playoffs this week. The drama of a seven-game series is far more entertaining to watch than the first few games of the NBA play-in tournament. Those NBA teams are playing their way into an almost-automatic first-round loss.

The last time a first or second seed lost in the first round of the NBA playoffs was 2012. So maybe the NBA needs the extra drama to begin what is usually a predictable first round.

“Predictable” is the last word you would use describing the NHL first round.

To quote Bettman again: “You’re looking to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Agreed!