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SouthernWingsFan

Playoff seeding & Divison winners

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Change it. Why a team in one division has more points than a team in another but that other team his higher seeded just becasue they are leading their divison is stupid. Congrats to Divisonal Champs and all but the team with the most points SHOULD be the higher seed. If it means getting rid of the divisons than so be it. The way the league was supposed to be structured for next season until the NHLPA said no was going to be better anyways. I say get rid of the divisons and let the points be the deciding factor.

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Guest Hatethedrake!

Eliminate the divisions and make it just the 2 conferences. 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6, 4 plays 5. Teams ranked according to points. Get rid of the loser point. Games end in a tie after 60 minutes. No overtime. Save that for the playoffs.

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Question about playoff seeding: Let's say the Sharks win their division and finish 3rd, with fewer points than Detroit. If we were to face them in the 2nd or 3rd round, would they have home ice even though we had more points?

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Guest Hatethedrake!

Question about playoff seeding: Let's say the Sharks win their division and finish 3rd, with fewer points than Detroit. If we were to face them in the 2nd or 3rd round, would they have home ice even though we had more points?

Correct. It is based on seeding. Division winners trump teams above them who have more points because they won their division.

One thing I am not sure about is this...lets say Detroit and Florida met in the Cup Final. Which team gets home ice? Florida who won its division? Or Detroit who has more points. I'm not sure what the criteria is when its teams in opposite Conferences.

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Eliminate the divisions and make it just the 2 conferences. 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6, 4 plays 5. Teams ranked according to points. Get rid of the loser point. Games end in a tie after 60 minutes. No overtime. Save that for the playoffs.

That's a whole other issue, but I hate ties, too. Sports is about winning and losing and there's nothing more frustrating than having a game end in a tie. I do agree we should get rid of the loser point. A loss is a loss.

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I've always criticized the division seeding, even when the Wings were on top. You sort of make my argument. There really is no need for divisions, other than for scheduling purposes (guaranteeing certain teams play certain teams enough times). And lately it hasn't seemed to matter much, because we haven't seen a terribly weak division in a few years. But this year is reminding everyone how flawed the system is.

To be honest, I've never seen this importance of division games early in the season. They're just two points to most teams. They may say they're important but watching the games, there's no extra benefit to it other than that. I'm just going back to first principles, that being divisions don't need to exist except as a scheduling tool.

You're right in saying that if divisions don't get automatic top seeds than there's no point in having divisions. However, think about what the divisions bring to the table and the consequences of removing them. Division races make for exciting hockey. Especially at the end of the season. Why? Look at the Pacific and Southeast divisions right now. Teams are STILL vying for their playoff lives with only a few games left.

If you take away the divisions than what do you have? Meaningless hockey in a league where there is already too many games. Besides the top two seeds fighting for dominance you are going to have the other six basically coasting into the playoffs because the risks of injuring key players far outweighs gaining one seed in a league where seeding really doesn't matter that much aside from do you get to stay home an extra game.

It basically comes down to this: Would you rather help the wings out in a once in a while strange off year at the cost of making hockey games down the stretch a lot less entertaining every year?

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Guest Hatethedrake!

That's a whole other issue, but I hate ties, too. Sports is about winning and losing and there's nothing more frustrating than having a game end in a tie. I do agree we should get rid of the loser point. A loss is a loss.

I'd sooner have the shootout winner get the 2 points and the losing team get none. Right now, too many teams rely on the overtime and shootout to get their points. Eliminating the garbage point would make teams try harder to win more games in regulation and in the overtime. Heck when the game was 1-1, you could see Florida playing for the guaranteed point. They've played the entire season that way. They've actually lost more games than they have won and they are a #3 seed.

Edited by Hatethedrake!

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Remove the automatic seeding of division winners. Period. Stupid rule.

You can have your division winner banner all you want, but being the best team in the worst division shouldn't automatically give you home ice over a better team, no matter what the logic is.

Basically sums up my feelings on it. I can see why the divisions are there for scheduling purposes but when it comes to the playoffs teams should be seeded based on points.

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This happens almost every single year to at least one side of the conference, it's just that this year the discrepancy is very pronounced.

2011 - Boston got 3rd seeding when they should have been 4th or 5th

2010 - Buffalo got 3rd when they should have been 4th, Van got 3rd when they should have been 4th

2009 - Van got 3rd when they should have been 4th

2008 - Wash got 3rd when they should have been 6th, Minnesota got 3rd when they should be 4th

etc.

etc.

I think when the seeding is 1 off, nobody cared but when the difference is between 3rd or 7th ... it really stands out.

Edited by RedWingsRox

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Guest irishock

I'm not familiar with the NBA system, but whats the point of calling them a 4th seed if they're not getting home advantage anyway? might as well call them the 5th seed unless I'm missing something

Yes you are right, but remember that 4th seed gets to at least face the 5th seed in the first round, instead of being a bottom 3 and having to face 1st, 2nd or 3rd seeders.

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