NHL Playoff Format is Failing Fans | Time to Fix This Broken System? - video Dailymotion

Peter Klein

Same matchups, weaker rivalries, and unfair brackets—it's time the NHL rethinks its playoff format. Peter Klein explains why fans and teams deserve better on the latest episode of Couch Potato Diary  #NHLPlayoffs #NHLFormat #HockeyTalk  🔗 Stay Connected & Support the Show 🎧 Listen & Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/couch-potato-diary/id1564122189  Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM 🧠 Partners & Promos:  C of Dead Apparel → https://www.cofdead403.ca/  Swift Energy → https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm  🎁 Use Promo Code: PKPrimetime for 25% off! 📲 Follow Me:  Twitter (X) → https://x.com/primetimeklein  Instagram → https://instagram.com/primetimeklein  Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/Couchpotatodiary  Twitch → https://twitch.tv/primetimepk 📬 Business Inquiries & Fan Mail:  Email → couchpotatodiary@yahoo.com

Transcript

00:00look the stanley cup playoffs are the best time of year for hockey fans and i would suggest that

00:13no playoffs do it as well as the stanley cup playoffs there is just something about the

00:19passion the intensity uh and everything that goes into it that makes it one of a kind it is a

00:25different sport it really feels like and while every other sport does ramp things up when it gets

00:30to the playoffs there is absolutely nothing like playoff hockey when it is at is its best i do have

00:36a problem though with how the nhl has set it up at this point the look that one through eight i think

00:46was a perfect system quite frankly you reward your teams at the top by taking on teams at the bottom

00:54that of the playoff structure right like that just to me and my brain that makes sense and so then

01:01they change it which is i i have there are times where you need to be proactive instead of reactive

01:07right but the playoffs were this perfect thing that we all greatly loved and appreciated and it created

01:14some amazing moments and i just i couldn't imagine watching the stanley cup playoffs and thinking you

01:19know what this needs to be tweaked a little bit and it was one of the mistakes that leagues make a lot

01:25it was for the sake of rivalries and now if you're a longer standing hockey fan you will know the nhl has

01:31been trying to shoehorn rivalry into things for a bit remember rivalry night on was and i don't think

01:38it was just nbc because that was hockey something in america or whatever but it was maybe it was the

01:42nbc games but it was rivalry game um and so because of that you just got basically original

01:49six american teams cycling through that spot all the time um that was essentially it and then featuring

01:57crosby and ovechkin as well and then you would get oh man it's rivalry night washington minnesota

02:03what what are we doing i don't know but we're marketing as rivalry night so people get interested in

02:10it they have for a long time really romanticized this thought of the rivalries because we've had

02:16some great ones in the past right uh montreal toronto uh a tale as old as time right uh and

02:22then ottawa gets thrown into the mix and then for a little bit we get toronto and ottawa and oh man

02:27what a rivalry that was and then we get pittsburgh and philadelphia in this kind of iteration right

02:32with sydney crosby battling up against this uh violent juggernaut that is giving them all these

02:38problems and and and and really being just mean to this guy but then like in the past too edmonton

02:45against calgary oh what a rivalry that was um even edmonton against the islanders when they're kind of

02:50switching eras back and forth a little bit right like we had all of those rivalries and admittedly

02:56rivalries are built in the playoffs and it was easier to have those rivalries and see everyone all

03:02the time when there was six 12 21 teams and you kind of had no choice that there were but so many

03:10teams to face at one particular time and so the nhl i think saw that as like well what if we basically

03:17just limited the field down to six to eight potentially and so they make this new format where

03:23you now play teams in your division in the first part of it and we have kind of again forced this

03:30rivalry thing and when leagues start to step in to try to create something that should happen

03:36organically it almost never goes well and the example i would use is major league baseball

03:43think back to like uh for for those who are around my age but like that um the boston red sox and the

03:50idiots and they have a really good documentary series on the red sox comeback in 04 that leads to that

03:55world series and that stretch leading up to it is some of the best baseball you'll see where

03:59it's yankees red sox yeah the games take four and a half hours but there is drama in every last

04:05second of it and it is just this absolute battle all the time between these two teams and it is just

04:11the two of the best and they're going at it and the hatred is building each time to the point where

04:15pedro martinez is throwing senior citizens to the ground and this right karim garcia who all these

04:21different things and the yankees are my daddy all of it builds up into this phenomenal crescendo

04:27where first boone hits the home run off of wakefield to send the the yankees to the world

04:32series and then the next year it is um dave roberts with the steals and ortiz with 1900 big

04:39hits and it's classic moments that you'll remember forever and so baseball saw that and every time

04:46the yankees and red sox played it seemed like it was a weekend and it followed local coverage on

04:52friday fox saturday baseball saturday espn sunday people couldn't get enough of it and so baseball

04:58took that and was like well people can't get enough of it let's give them more and they changed the

05:02schedule so that we then got 18 yankee red sox games a year you know what became less important

05:08after that yankee red sox games because you would see them it's like ah okay april i'll catch it later

05:15and so you had this thing that felt important and this thing that happened organically with these two

05:20top teams just battling it out and front offices and then on the field to face each other and then

05:26you stuck them together 18 times and it didn't feel special anymore and i'm worried that's what

05:31we're getting now with this playoff format where you are trying to force rivalries and i i think is

05:36honestly it's a little bit of old wwe booking where okay what's the best way to get a rivalry let's just

05:42have these guys face each other a bunch what's the story they're facing each other a bunch like

05:46that's not storylines can come out of that sure and we got that washington montreal that is now

05:53probably going to be a rivalry for a bit given some of the animosity that came out of that series

05:57and there's a little bit of history going back to um montreal stealing the show uh against washington

06:03when the habs were an eight seed but again that happened organically florida tampa bay should be

06:10almost the pinnacle of rivalries in sports right now in the nhl anyway because of tampa bay's history

06:18for so long controlling that area winning cup after cup after cup and now florida gets the good fortune

06:24that matthew kachuk wanted out of calgary and uh wants to go to florida so they make the move they

06:31bring in matthew kachuk and now this team is on the rise first as a cup contender then as a stanley

06:36cup champion and now they are in this heated battle with tampa bay who is now trying to counter

06:42this upstart team that they have controlled for so long and it has been this clashing of whatever

06:48except florida's quite a bit better now at this point and so instead of this great rivalry that oh

06:54man this feels special i'm good we've got it a couple of times i'm good i'm good on it uh say

07:02that like edmonton against la they have played this is the fourth playoff series in a row that

07:07they are playing each other when edmonton plays la next season in the regular season in november is

07:15anybody gonna give two shits don't think so so that you have got it a lot which makes it noteworthy

07:23i suppose but that doesn't make it a rivalry and so i feel like the nhl in trying to create this thing

07:30that when it happens organically it's amazing when they try to do it it just feels overdone and

07:36lame and it takes away from a bit of the fun that can be the playoffs right where you would have

07:42um it does let you set up a bracket too which i guess that part i'm gonna get to that in a second

07:48i'm taking a lot of side streets here but when you have this whole thing set up and it was just it

07:53was so great because you would have like this run uh in 04 that the flames went on and i know i'm

07:57referencing that era of sports a lot today but that run the flames went on in 04 where they beat

08:02the canucks in the first round it now feels like it is a gauntlet because they are the lowest seed

08:08so now they have to play the number one team in the land the detroit red wings in the next round and

08:13so again instead of rewarding the top teams in the league for being the top teams winnipeg as the

08:21president's trophy winner they get through the first round their matchup in the next round is

08:26either dallas or colorado either a dallas team that is playing phenomenal hockey right now or a

08:32colorado team that's got their captain back for the first time in three years and has some of the

08:36best center depth in the history of the sport so hey congratulations but please let's keep shitting

08:41on teams for doing well in the regular season and making fun of the president's trophy winners as if

08:46that's a thing no it's they're just there's been a lot of times that's been screwed up and it was

08:49screwed up before in the old system i will grant you but the the reward for doing great in the regular

08:54season shouldn't be that you now have to play in theory two teams that you are very familiar with

09:02because you're in the same division so you have to play them a lot i i just i i think that it really

09:06changes the reward structure in the nhl i think that it really tries to force something that used to be

09:13just so much fun with all of that also spare me the bracket thing like oh well everyone just likes to

09:20that they want it to be like march madness where you can just fill out a bracket and go

09:23a if march madness was three rounds no one would fill out a bracket it's only fun because the thing

09:30is comically large and you just get to fill it saint bonaventure or whatever and you get to put

09:34that in so okay also i would just like to state for the record very few are doing it by hand anymore

09:42and maybe there are still some and it's still kind of fun and honestly i do it by hand first and then

09:48fill in all the things after but i do think that if you are of the psycho variety where you are doing

09:54a bracket by hand i think you can figure out that okay i think this team's gonna win here these are

10:00the teams that i have winning and now we're receding so which number is the highest which number is the

10:05lowest those two teams face each other like i think people could figure that out so every reason that

10:11the nhl would have for making this you can kind of poke holes in it a little bit and i think we are

10:16starting to see the flaws of that starting to find their way through in these post seasons

10:22again the action's been great and it has been a lot of fun but i just think that this is a a flawed

10:29system and the playoffs are fun in spite of it not because of it so that is the story from the

10:35national hockey league uh again all the nhl stuff is all in one spot on the couch potato diary youtube

10:41channel uh just look up the hockey playlist if you're watching this after it's gonna be in there

10:47uh so check it out uh but yeah if you just i know we cover a lot of sports on this show if you're just

10:52here for the hockey thank you um there is just a hockey playlist you can check out all the hockey

10:56breakdowns there or if you are here looking for wrestling or ufc or basketball or whatever it's

11:01this guy's talking about 2004 baseball while we're talking about hockey playoffs screw this guy

11:05um all the different sports broken up into the playlists that you would want over on the youtube

11:10channel

NHL Playoff Format is Failing Fans | Time to Fix This Broken System?

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