Playoff format stuck in the ’80s
Adding play-in games, ditching divisional matchups would be good start
The 1987-88 season was another trying one for the Maple Leafs, but having a large playoff pool and being in the weak Norris Division made every game count right until the end.
One last win over the visiting Detroit Red Wings combined with a Minnesota North Stars loss against the Calgary Flames the next night would give the Leafs the final playoff spot.
When Detroit came out of the first period with a 3-0 lead, fans at Maple Leaf Gardens quickly went from raucous and hopeful to quiet and discouraged.
Early in the second period, a sign ran across the score clock that advised season-ticket holders on how to arrange for pickup of their upcoming Leafs playoff tickets. The collective silence of the crowd broke into boos, laughter and groans. It was a tragic comedy moment.
But maybe the untimely playoff messaging that riled up the Toronto crowd is what helped spur the Leafs to score five consecutive goals to win 5-3. The next day, the North Stars lost 4-1 in Calgary, which meant the Leafs’ .325 winning percentage (a 21-49-10 record) was just enough to secure a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Those were the good old days, when 16 of 21 NHL teams would play post-season hockey.
I remember Leafs owner Harold Ballard adding his usual dollarsand-sense perspective: “It doesn’t matter how many points you finish with as long as you make the playoffs.” It helped that each home playoff game added $400,000 to the Gardens cash box.
It has been 35 years since that season and the NHL has added another 11 teams. And yet, there are still only 16 teams who make the post-season. What used to be a 76 per cent chance of making the playoffs in the 21-team league now sits at 50 per cent.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly has said on our “NHL Morning Skate” show on SiriusXM that “there is almost zero appetite to expand the playoffs at the board of governors level.” But let’s look at what other major sports leagues in North America have done.
When the Blue Jays started in 1977, only four of the 16 MLB teams (25 per cent) made the post-season. Now, 12 of 30 (40 per cent) qualify. The NFL had eight of 26 teams (31 per cent) making the playoffs after the merger with the AFL in 1969; it’s now 12 of 32 (44 per cent). And the NBA recently added a play-in tournament so that 20 of 30 teams (67 per cent) play post-season games.
When Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon bought his team in 2021, he disagreed with Daly’s sentiment: “Being in contention for the playoffs is crucial to ticket sales,” he said. “So in a market that I am in, I would welcome expanding the playoffs, which also expands the number of teams that are in playoff contention.”
I agree with Dundon. In Toronto, losing the ticket sales that come with a playoff appearance isn’t the same challenge as in most other markets. But beyond the money, the current system makes a good chunk of the season far less compelling for a number of teams. I grew to pity Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf having to drag on postgame, trying to make relevant comments about a lost game in yet another lost season.
My first playoff expansion proposal is simple. It works off of the original wild-card playoff game in MLB that has now been adopted as the play-in by the NBA.
The No. 8 and No. 9 teams in each conference play a single play-in game at the home of the higher seed. What would be better than one extra night to showcase a doubleheader on national television to kick off the Stanley Cup playoffs? Not only would this add two teams into the playoff mix, but it would also add teams who would be competing for a playoff spot instead of packing it in over the season’s final weeks.
The Leafs have made a habit of cruising into the playoffs in recent seasons, but 17 years ago a play-in game would have done them a big favour.
On April 8, 2007, Leafs fans watched a Sunday afternoon game with great interest as the New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in a shootout in their final regular season game of the season to give them the final playoff spot over Toronto. Fans were rightfully frustrated watching the Devils start backup Scott Clemmensen in goal over Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur in a game that meant nothing to them but everything to the Leafs.
A winner-take-all game between the ninth-seeded Leafs and eighthseeded Islanders would’ve been better for everyone (except the Islanders).
“The older I get, the more that game bothers me,” Andrew Raycroft, the Leafs’ starting goalie that season, told me this week. “If the Devils had hung on and won, us making the playoffs likely would have positively impacted my time as a Leaf.”
If you’re not a fan of the play-in battle, how about we at least get back to the old conference-style playoff format of the No. 1 seed playing the No. 8 seed and so on, rather than the divisional first-round format the NHL has now?
I think that’s something we can all agree on.