Opinion: Current playoff format reinvigorates rivalries, and that’s why it should stick around

Some want to see a new playoff format but I say keep things as they are. Just look at the round one matchups!

The NHL playoff bracket is set, as teams and their respective fan bases gear up for the first round. Fans in Toronto, Ottawa, Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Los Angeles, and Florida are ready to face familiar and not-so-likeable foes. That’s good for hockey, great entertainment, and, inevitably, the right way to do this playoff thing! Were there some less-than-watchable games in the last week or two of the season due to predetermined outcomes? Sure, but I’ll take the good with the bad, seeing as the good comes in the form of renewed rivalries. Like a lot of them. I will put these matchups on a silver platter to prove my point.

The Battle of Ontario

Let’s start with the series that major hackey media will cover most intensely and look at Toronto vs. Ottawa, which will begin in Toronto. Sure, it’s maybe not the tightest matchup, with Toronto being the second-best team in the East. Still, we all know how Toronto and Ontario, for that matter, do that hockey—with a crazed sense of importance and an ever-growing fanatic response.

Toronto has yet to make it past the second round, something we are familiar with in Colorado, and Ottawa with their netminder has the potential to upset the Leafs. I’m intrigued.

Thunder Cat Series

Speaking of geographical significance in a playoff series, the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning present a matchup that should feature seriously high-quality hockey. The Lightning have been striking under the radar this season, and the Panthers are defending champs.

Animosity already exists between these clubs, with a character like Matthew Thachuk involved, and this is likely the season when Kucherov wins his Hart Trophy. It shouldn’t surprise you, but I think MacKinnon should get back-to-back MVPs. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t be surprised if the team representing the East in the Stanley Cup Final emerges from this round one series in the Sunshine State.

Kings of Oil Country

Let’s examine the team that lost to the Panthers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final and their subsequent first-round matchup against the Los Angeles Kings. Now, before you say, “This matchup proves you are wrong; we’ve seen these two teams repeatedly,” Let’s remember what builds a nasty and entertaining rivalry—frequent high-stakes matchups. Like the Avs, Red Wings, and Dallas Stars of old and new?

Getting the same matchup stokes the flames that breathe life into rivalries, and this one is already heating up as the two teams met earlier in the week and already gave some locker room material in game 81 of the regular season.

The Blizzard in Big D

Last but certainly not least is the Avalanche vs. Stars matchup. I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it: this matchup has storylines abound. From the Dallas Stars’ angle, they face the team they beat in the second round last year, but their opponent looks different this time around.

The Mikko Rantanen trade saga landed him in the heart of Texas, which is likely salt in the wound for the Avs, who will have to get revenge this time. As countless Avalanche fans have told me, Jamie Benn is among the most disliked players in the league. Mason Marchment and his head-snapping embellishments have made him climb the list, and there is Matt Duchene.

Josh Manson got the best of Jamie Benn way back when, and if Gabe Landeskog makes his comeback to the tune of his old ways, he will be involved in the extracurricular one way or another. Fans on each side of this central division playoff will have plenty to vent about when it’s all said and done. I promise.

Good start for the Avalanche last night, who got a stellar performance out of Mackenzie Blackwood in his first-ever playoff appearance! Colorado has secured a 1-0 series lead, and the Dallas Stars have now lost eight consecutive games, and eight consecutive game ones.

Closing Argument

I’ve done enough opinion pieces to be prepared for a rebuttal, and I know what one will be for sure. “Don’t you want these matchups to happen in the later rounds to add higher stakes?” Answer: No.

There’s only room for 16 teams in this league’s tournament of champions, and I’m not a proponent of adding more. With that, you would only get two of these matchups in a conference final. The way this is set up, the first round will be so jam-packed with excitement that it will drive viewership for the later rounds. Once 28 fan bases are out of it, you must have told a great story to keep them around for the next two rounds.

Some want to add teams to the bracket and go back to the one vs. eight traditional format. I’m not sold. Look at what the expanded playoff and play-in tournament have done to the NBA’s regular season viewership numbers. In the NHL, the play-in starts in October, and you will likely have to beat the best team in your division and then the other best team in your conference to earn a shot at hoisting the Stanley Cup. That’s a good thing. I say we keep the regular season important. With things the way they are now, we get more of what makes hockey so watchable: High-stakes competition tinged with entrenched rivalries that demand the best from the world’s top hockey players both physically and emotionally.