Bettman defends NHL’s playoff format

Commissioner Gary Bettman stands by the NHL's decision to admit 24 teams into the playoffs when action restarts this summer.

With the regular season declared complete and 24 teams headed to the newly revised postseason, 77 percent of the league's teams will be in the playoffs.

Speaking on ESPN's “The Return of Sports” special, Bettman said, “I think everybody can feel good, based on the combination of the play-in round and the way we're going to run the playoffs, that this will be a full competition which will bring out the best in our teams and our players. The Stanley Cup champion will be deserving of that crown and the most storied trophy in all of sports.”

The top four teams in each conference, based on points per game played, are guaranteed berths in the playoffs' round of 16. Those teams will conduct round robins to determine seeds No. 1 through No. 4 for each conference.

At the same time, the playoffs will commence with series in each conference pitting seeds No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 6 vs. No. 11, No.

7 vs. No. 10, and No. 8 vs. No. 9.

“While the regular season was largely completed, we had a number of teams that were on the bubble,” Bettman said on ESPN. “And you know we have extraordinary competitive balance (in the NHL) and any of those teams that were on the bubble outside of the top 16 in each conference had a legitimate chance of making the playoffs, some more than others.

And we decided we needed a play-in round to give those teams a chance to ultimately make the playoffs, and that's going to be a best-of-five series.”