More playoffs in NHL’S return fits grand plan

Expanded post-season party in future will put more cash in owners’ pockets

The NHL playoffs are close to returning. And they’re not going to be like anything we’ve seen before. That likely goes for next year and beyond.

On Monday, the NHL held a board of governors meeting to discuss plans for returning to play, and one of those plans involves jumping right into the playoffs with 24 teams competing in as few as two hub cities for the Stanley Cup.

There’s a lot to unpack here logistically. And there are many questions that still have to be answered, such as which cities (there are eight or nine currently on the short list) will host the games? What happens if someone tests positive for COVID-19?

And when is this even going to happen when border restrictions are preventing players — 17 per cent of whom are currently outside of North America — from returning to the continent?

“I don’t think anybody has a fixed timetable, particularly in North America right now,” commissioner Gary Bettman said in a digital keynote interview with Leaders Week, a sports business conference, as reported on Monday by Nhl.com.

If the NHL decides not to complete the regular season, then 24 — not 16 — teams could be in the playoffs. That’s a huge increase. And don’t be surprised if it becomes the norm.

The reason for adding another eight teams into the playoff mix this year is mostly out of necessity. When the season was paused there was a handful of teams on the bubble with a dozen or so games still on the schedule. It’s not fair to take the standings as they are today. Nor does it make sense for a team like Detroit, which is already mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, to come back and play for nothing.

Of course, the real reason for expanding the playoffs is that it puts more cash in the owners’ pockets.

The final two weeks of the regular season were going to be meaningless for Montreal or Buffalo, or the teams that were essentially too far back to make a push. No one wants to watch that. But fans would definitely watch if Montreal and Buffalo were playing against each other in a play-in series or as part of a round robin.

The logistics are still being worked out. But the NHL is considering all of its options.

Whatever it decides, you can bet more playoff games will be part of the equation. After all, more playoff games equal more TV revenue. And this is its chance to recoup some lost dollars and keep as many fans as possible interested.

But if you think this is a one-time deal, think again. An expanded playoff format is almost certainly going to be the norm. The playoffs are when teams make back their money. It’s when the players are playing for free and when the game tickets cost more money.

The need to be in the playoffs has now never been stronger. For this season, it would make the Stanley Cup something to truly remember.

“We’d like to complete this season,” Bettman said on Monday. “We’d like to award the Stanley Cup, the most treasured trophy and the most historic trophy in all of sports. And our fans are telling us overwhelmingly that’s what they’d like us to do, because people have an emotional investment in this season already.”

If more teams are involved, more fans will profit from that emotional investment. This year and beyond.