Predators, Jets shouldn’t be playing yet — but we'll take it
The conventional thing to do right now would be to join in the chorus of angry voices chiding Gary Bettman for the NHL playoff format that will pit the two best teams in the league against each other in the second round, for the second straight year.
And yes, it is dumb, this system that debuted in 2014. The reasons given for it are dumber still. But I don’t care right now. I would like to thank Bettman, because this strange way of doing things has guaranteed us the monster series of the tournament, one that might not have happened otherwise.
Should the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets be playing in the Western Conference Final instead of the second round? Of course. But at least they’re playing, these two top contenders for the Stanley Cup, these two Central Division teams with the No. 1 and No. 2 records in the NHL’s regular season, these loaded squads with speed, skill, physicality, stars, Vezina Trophy finalists in goal and perhaps the two best home environments in the sport.
That sounds like cause for celebration. It’s also justification for the loser of this series to complain, and that will surely happen.
Embattled Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz has pointed out more than once that, yes, his Presidents’ Trophy-winning teams of the past two years lost in the second round – but the Caps lost to the No. 2 team in the league, the division rival Pittsburgh Penguins, who went on to win their second straight Stanley Cup.
Perspective will be needed as well for the followers of the loser of this series. Understand, Predators fans, that your team is about to play a team just as capable of winning the whole thing. The difference is experience – the Jets just won that franchise’s first playoff series since it was born in Atlanta in 1999, while the Preds just won their fifth in the past three postseasons.
But Nashville had three series wins in its history before last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Final as the No. 16 overall seed in the postseason. Like the Predators then and now, these Jets have the goods.
And if the five regular-season games between these teams are any kind of preview, we’re in store for some highscoring, body-busting, dramadrenched, bathroom-breaks-only-atintermission kind of hockey. Maybe the best matchup of the playoffs, NHL or NBA.
Only these teams can play five games like that – Nashville 5, Winnipeg 3; Winnipeg 6, Nashville 4; Nashville 6, Winnipeg 5; Nashville 3, Winnipeg 1 and Winnipeg 5, Nashville 4 (shootout) – and make you feel like they both played physical defense and got good goaltending amid all the scoring.
“They’ve got size, they’ve got skill, they’ve got speed, they’ve got a Vezina finalist goalie,” Predators forward Austin Watson said Sunday night of the Jets after Nashville routed Colorado 5-0 in Game 6 in Denver to advance. “It’s something we’re going to have to get our rest and get prepared for, and we’re excited.”
Winnipeg answers Pekka Rinne with Connor Hellebuyck. Nashville answers Patrik Laine with Filip Forsberg. Winnipeg answers the rowdy towel-waving of Bridgestone Arena with the frenzied white-outs of Bell MTS Place. The Jets have more star power in their forward group with Laine, Blake Wheeler, Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, but the Predators have more depth. The Predators have the best defensive quartet in the league, but the Jets have Dustin Byfuglien, who uses his 6-foot-5, 260-pound body to pulverize anything that moves.
So yeah, the NHL should have a 1-8 format in each conference. The NHL should switch back to that as soon as possible. Bettman has said this format helps intensify divisional rivalries, which don’t need any help. And this is supposed to cut down on travel – which in most cases means, what, cutting 45 minutes off a plane ride? It’s nonsensical.
The 1-8 format would have the Predators taking on the San Jose Sharks right now while the Jets would play the Vegas Golden Knights. That would be more fair.