Hearing Ottawa Senators General Manager/coach Bryan Murray claim that the Pittsburgh Penguins "tanked" just so they could face the Senators in the first round of the playoffs got me thinking- since the National Hockey League has a "draft lottery" to prevent teams from tanking to get a great pick why not have a "playoff lottery" to ensure teams don't tank to get a more favourable opponent? My idea works as follows:
There would be two groups, one for the highest and lowest seeds and one for the mid-table ones. This would mean that #1 would be randomly selected to play either #7 or #8 (with #2 playing the team #1 did not draw out of those two) and the same with #3 and #4 with the #5 and #6 seeds. The rest of the playoffs would remain the same with reseeding after the first round.
Another option would be to allow the higher seeds to select who they will play in the first two rounds among the lower seeds, with the #1 seed getting the first choice, the #2 seed getting the second choice, and so on. Teams would not be allowed to select a team that would qualify for home-ice advantage in that round (in the first round the #1,#2,#3 and #4 seeds could only select from the seeds #5-#8 and in the second round the teams reseeded #1 and #2 could only select from the teams reseeded #3 and #4) to ensure that the strongest teams at least have the shot (that they earned) to have a deep run in the playoffs.
Neither idea are precedented (nor do I think the Penguins really tanked, albeit it is close), but I think the NHL owes itself to make some kind of alteration to the playoffs to make sure teams don't "abuse" the standings to ensure they'll have a competitive edge.
-DG
A social and culture blog who covers everything from sports, to entertainment, to society and to life in general. You may not always agree with what I have to say but I will make you think.
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