Terrible divisions are everywhere in pro sports
There was a time when bad teams consistently made the playoffs in the National Hockey League.
The Norris Division routinely featured squads that qualified for the playoffs with atrocious regular-season records. For example, the 1985’86 Toronto Maple Leafs made the playoffs with only 57 points.
In 1991, the Minnesota North Stars squeaked into the post-season with just 27 wins and 68 points during the regular season, but that team managed to go on a Cinderella playoff run, winning three rounds before losing in the Stanley Cup final.
However, in the current age of parity and a salary cap, it’s a lot more difficult to make the playoffs with below-average or mediocre records. Usually, the cutoff is around 90 points, and in some cases the number is closer to 100. When the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup two years ago, they were portrayed as an underdog team that captured the championship as the eighth seed in the Western Conference. In reality, the Kings were a 95-point team in the regular season that was just two points shy of winning a division title and starting with home-ice advantage.
This season, however, with the new playoff format, there could be a couple of playoff teams that fit the description of average and mediocre in the Eastern Conference. The Metropolitan Division has been so weak that the Philadelphia Flyers, who fired their head coach and won only once in their first eight games, were in the thick of the playoff race when the calendar flipped to December. In the past, the Southeast Division was always considered the NHL’s weakest, but it was a common occurrence that only the division winner would qualify for the playoffs. The teams that finished second or third in the Southeast would often miss the playoffs altogether because they weren’t good enough to crack the top eight in the conference standings.
Under the new NHL playoff format, the second- and third-place teams from the Metropolitan Division will make the playoffs.
The Rangers are on pace for only 82 points this season, which would represent the lowest total to make the playoffs since the NHL adopted the shootout in 2005-06.
Fortunately for the NHL, it isn’t the only league faced with the issue of having one blatantly weak division that stands alone. Through Monday’s games, the Toronto Raptors led the NBA’s Atlantic Division despite their 6-10 record. Unless you are into the genre of fantasy fiction, the phrase “division-leading Toronto Raptors” isn’t something you come across often. Yet the Raptors sat alone in first with a .375 winning percentage because the other four teams in the division had a combined record of 21-49.
Under the NBA playoff format, a division winner can be seeded no lower than fourth for the playoffs, which means the Raptors — or whoever finishes first in the Atlantic Division — could get home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a record well below the .500 mark.
In the NFL, the NFC East used to be considered one of the elite divisions, but has fallen on hard times. Even the New York Giants, who started 0-6 record, still have a chance to win the division title. The Philadelphia Eagles hold a share of first in the NFC East, despite losing their first four home games.
Perhaps the most ominous sign for the NFC East is that Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys control their destiny, which means an 8-8 record could clinch the division crown.
While the NFC East has been the punchline for many jokes this season, it wasn’t long ago that the NFC West was considered the laughingstock of the NFL. In 2010, the Seattle Seahawks won the NFC West with a 7-9 record becoming the first division champion to have a losing record.
Three years ago, the division featuring the Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals and St. Louis Rams was clearly the worst in the league, but this season the Seahawks possess the best record in the NFL at 11-1, while the Cardinals and 49ers are holding playoff positions.
The relative strength of a division is often cyclic in professional sports and it’s likely that, a year or two from now, the NBA’s Atlantic, the NFL’s NFC East and the NHL’s Metropolitan will be back at the top in their respective leagues.
For now, it’s fascinating to think that each of these weak divisions will produce playoff teams this season and some of them could have records at or below .500.
If nothing else, it will give us hope that a mediocre team from the regular season will make a Cinderella run in the playoffs.