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| If the NHL's regular season played out the way we think it should have, the Wild would've finished fifth in the West. (Credits: Hannah Foslien/Getty Images North America) |
NBA:
Eliminate the "Division Winner Automatically Gets a Top-4 Seed" clause and eliminate the 2-3-2 NBA Finals Format. Division winner guaranteed a playoff spot, but it's based on record/tiebreakers.
Although the 2012-'13 playoffs weren't affected by division winners claiming a higher seed than their record showed, it's another small and annoying clause. I don't think a team should ever been penalized for being in a tougher division or rewarded for being in a mediocre division either. Sure it'll probably only push a true fifth or sixth seed into a fourth seed like it did in the lockout season (Boston was fourth, although Atlanta had a better record), but it's a small nuisance.
I believe the NBA playoffs are pretty much perfected this point. 16 teams is a fair number and they play out seven games in all of the rounds, which is the right way to do it. My only qualms with the playoffs comes in the Finals where they employ the 2-3-2 format. I get that this is because it's a West vs. East thing but with today's air travel and technology, traveling from coast-to-coast isn't a difficult task. The reality is that the team's with home-court advantage don't really have an advantage at all. Unless they are swept (which means they don't belong) they have really have to win both Games 1 & 2 to guarantee that they won't get embarrassed in their three consecutive road games. The away team is riding the moment of "stealing" a home game and all of the sudden it's a daunting task to bring things back home. Great teams have done it, but something about the 2-2-1-1-1 is just a thousand times more exciting.
These changes did not affecting seeding in the 2012 playoffs.
NHL:
Change the points system to award 3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime win, 1 point for a shootout win, 0 points for shootout loss/OT loss/regulation loss.
I've read the rules on the new NHL format and I'm really not sure how it's going to go or how the damn thing actually will work, so I'll form my opinion on it come April. However, there is a way we can alter the regular season, which in effect would alter the postseason.
There's nothing more irksome than when teams coast through the last five minutes of a regular season game just to grab a point and then coast (or trap) through an overtime because they are more confident in their shootout play. Eliminating the point for a loss in overtime and a shootout would make each game that much more exhilarating and tense. Since when in America have we ever been accepting of losing in any capacity? Get rid of these silly points given to teams that "played their hearts out." Well some teams attempt to get to OT just to guarantee a point, which is ridiculous. This would put an onus on winning in regulation, where games should be won. Then if you win in OT, good for you, but you're going to get one less point putting even more importance on that regulation win. You want to see 60 minutes balls-to-the-wall hockey? Make regulation is the ultimate win. Sure teams won't have 105 points anymore, but they also won't be rewarded for losing, which is ridiculous.
2012 Playoff Standings with these alterations.
East:
1.Pittsburgh- 67
2.Montreal- 53
3.Boston- 51
4.Toronto-50
5.Washington-47
6.NY Rangers- 44 (Win tiebreaker on goal difference)
7.Ottawa-44
8.Winnipeg-42 (Win tiebreaker because of less shootout wins)
9.NY Islanders-42
As you can see the points are certainly diminished with the decrease in points awarded to a shootout or overtime winner. The standings here in the East didn't change much however, Toronto and Boston are now rightfully higher than Washington because I don't believe in giving division winners that sort of standing. Also the Islanders miss the playoffs, which would be interesting to see because of Winnipeg's raucous fanbase.
West:
1.Chicago- 61
2.Anaheim- 53
3.Los Angeles- 51
4.St. Louis- 49
5.Vancouver- 46
6.Minnesota-45
7.Detroit- 44
8.San Jose- 42
9.Columbus-38
The West had much more movement than the East. Vancouver rightfully so (as they were swept in the first round) moved from third to fifth. Minnesota jumped from eighth to sixth and Los Angeles jumped St. Louis from fifth to third.
A new format will change things indefinitely and I'm interested to see how it goes. I'm sure at some point down the line, however, I'll want to get my hands on the playoff format...If only we ruled the sports world.
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