On Frozen Blog

10 Comments

1. HockeePhan wrote:

   and by virtue of that first place finish, they are third in the conference ….
   http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/standings?season=2008&group=conference&column=playoffs&order=false&seasontype=2&standType=standings

   7 February, 2008 at 9:18 am | Permalink
2. TG wrote:

   With a game in hand.

   7 February, 2008 at 1:34 pm | Permalink
3. Thunderweenie wrote:

   OK, two things:
   1) Congrats to the Caps. This turnaround is incredible, and its good to see an exciting team with some good talent work their way to the top, as opposed to gooning their way to success (Philly, I’m looking in your direction…). Nicely done. You long-suffering fans in Washington deserve this.
   2) Having said that…and maybe these are just the bitter words of an Ottawa fan who is watching the wheels come off his team’s bus…but the fact that the Caps have now jumped all the way to 3rd in the East points up just how silly the NHL’s seeding system is. Automatically seeding the divison leaders in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd unduly rewards (or punishes) teams based on geography. It just doesn’t make sense to be ranked ahead of (and have home-ice advantage over) five teams who have better records than you do.
   Sorry, guys, but Washington should be tied with Buffalo for 8th place in the Conference, not in sole posession of 3rd. That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!

   7 February, 2008 at 5:51 pm | Permalink
4. Gustafsson wrote:

   I think the league needs to seriously look at returning to two divisions in each conference and have divisional playoffs that feed to the conference final.
   It’s the playoffs that form rivalries, not this silly 8 times a year during the regular season stuff.

   7 February, 2008 at 5:55 pm | Permalink
5. Thunderweenie wrote:

   I say top 8 go to the big dance, period, end of story. Forget the divisions.
   If you don’t have one of the eight best records in your conference, you don’t deserve to be there. Period.

   7 February, 2008 at 6:04 pm | Permalink
6. pepper wrote:

   I agree Gus. I miss the Patrick division semis and finals, then moving on to the other division’s winner. It’s why us Caps fans hate the Pens/Flyers/Rangers but can’t muster up strong feelings for Carolina and Atlanta. Maybe a bit for TB, but again that’s because there’s a bit of playoff history there.

   7 February, 2008 at 6:32 pm | Permalink
7. SpartyCuse wrote:

   Its like the problems that the NBA has. If the NHL is going to keep 3 divisions, my suggestion is to give the division winners get a guaranteed playoff spot, but get seeded by points. So the Caps would get in, but would be the #8 seed. If a division winner has less points than the team that would otherwise be #8, then thats life.
   I too, would like a return to a two-division system, but its not going to happen. The problem is that the East is so perfectly divided now, how would you make it 2 divisions? No matter how you do it, you are going to break up rivalries, and owners will not go for it.
   The West would be much easier to splie. Move Minny and Dallas to the current Central, and put the other teams together.
   Although you would have unbalanced divisions (8 and 7 teams), you can do what the AHL does. If the #5 team in the 8 team division has more points than the #4 in the 7 team division, they cross over and take the spot.

   7 February, 2008 at 6:36 pm | Permalink
8. Thunderweenie wrote:

   True enough, Gus and Pepper. Ottawa and Toronto don’t hate each other because they play each other eight times a year. They hate each other because of some very testy (giggity!) playoff series over the past number of years.
   Ottawa and Buffalo are developing a similar rivalry, having met in two playoffs in as many years.
   Also explains why I wish Anaheim would slide into the Pacific.

   7 February, 2008 at 6:38 pm | Permalink
9. Thunderweenie wrote:

   Sparty, I could live with that system better than I can live with the current one. But boy, you’d sure feel screwed over if you were that 9th place team that should have been 8th.
   Kind of like the University of Hawaii’s football team going undefeated, and still not being allowed to compete for a national championship. If you do what you’re expected to do (WIN!) and that’s still not good enough–and, more to the point, if someone else gets rewarded for something other than a winning record–there’s something wrong with the system.

   7 February, 2008 at 6:43 pm | Permalink
10. norske wrote:

    Thunderweenie, as far as I know every league in every sport seeds division winners above wild cards. It isn’t the slightest bit unusual for a division winner to make the playoffs when teams with better records don’t. It happens in MLB just about every single year. I just don’t see the big deal. You don’t see baseball fans constantly whining about the situation. I’m convinced that the reason this has (this season) become a big issue among NHL fans is that there is an overwhelming geographical bias among hockey fans that simply doesn’t exist in other sports. In my opinion, the reason hockey fans all of a sudden think this is a terrible situation that must be fixed is that it’s the despised Southeast Division that’s involved. If it were any other division, it wouldn’t be an issue.

    8 February, 2008 at 12:01 am | Permalink

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