What a 24 Team Playoff Format Would Mean for the Carolina Hurricanes

Divisional Playoff Formatting

If you thought the full conference 1-12 formatting was unlikely, this one is probably even less likely. While the league enjoys pushing divisional rivalries upon us, to break down the playoffs strictly by division would be difficult.

To start things off, there isn’t an even number of teams across the divisions that make the aforementioned playoff cut-off. The Metro Division alone has seven teams above that cut-off while the Atlantic only has five. The entire Central division makes that cut-off while only five teams make it out of the Pacific.

So that would require a change to the cut off from being a league wide cut-off to a strictly divisional one. That means each division would seed internally and only the top six teams would make the playoffs. That means goodbye Rangers and hello Sabres (Jeff Skinner would finally make the playoffs, so thats a plus).  It would also mean goodbye Blackhawks and hello to the Ducks too.

So where would the Hurricanes seed within the Metro? Once again regardless of if they go via point percentage or current points, Carolina’s position wouldn’t change. In fact the top four teams in the Metro would remain seeded at Capitals, Flyers, Penguins, and Hurricanes. The Islanders and Blue Jackets however would flip in the bottom seeds with point percentage favoring the Isle.

This format would give the top two teams, the Capitals and Flyers a break of a round while the next four seeds duked it out. The Hurricanes would get the fifth seed while the Penguins got the sixth. A point percentage seeding would have the Canes facing off against the Islanders while the current points would have them face against the Blue Jackets.

Getting past that first round would have the Hurricanes face off against either the Capitals, if the Penguins also won their series, or the Flyers if the Penguins lose. This sort of playoff formating would probably be prefered by Capitals fans eager for some revenge against the Canes with full knowledge that they wouldn’t see the Penguins until the third round.

This formatting is not my favorite, and I am glad it is very unlikely to happen, although you never know with Bettman at the helm. The only good thing that would come from it is that there would be a verified divisional champion as well as a conference champion named during the playoffs before the Stanley Cup would be awarded.