What's Wrong With the NHL and NBA Playoffs?

Beginning in the 2013-2014 season the NHL changed their league structure and playoffs, going to a two-conference, four-division format. The Detroit Red Wings were now in the Eastern Conference and more directly, the Atlantic Division? The great playoff rivalry between Detroit and the Colorado Avalanche from the late 1990’s will now only occur in a Stanley Cup Final. Way to go, hockey gods.

There are now wild-card teams, which I only thought referred to football teams that played the first weekend in January. This is the third format change since 1994, and it doesn’t seem to be progressing (According to Wikipedia, this format is similar to the division system from the 1981-1982 season).

When it happened I never really paid attention being somewhat of a fair-weather hockey fan. I still don’t understand how there can be hockey franchises in Florida, Phoenix, Anaheim, North Carolina (bring back the Whale!), and now Las Vegas.

I try to pay attention to the Boston Bruins and also my alma mater, the Boston University Terriers, during their respective regular seasons. I also buy into the old cliché that nothing is better than playoff hockey, so when I checked the standings the other day to see who the Bruins would be playing in the first round, I was a little surprised.

Last year the Bruins played the Ottawa Senators in the first round but didn’t think anything of the seeding. After a brief interweb search, I've learned that the playoff bracket is now based on the divisions, and not necessarily by record and points.

Because of this, the Bruins open with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had a better regular season than Eastern Conference playoff teams Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Columbus and New Jersey. If the Bruins move on to the second round, they’ll more than likely play the top seed Tampa Bay. As the Bruins had the second-best record in the East, shouldn’t the matchup of the two best teams happen in the Conference Finals?

This same goes for Winnipeg, who is scheduled to play top seed Nashville in the second round even though they were the second-best team out west. I understand rewarding the division winners, but this format certainly takes away from the other top seeds in each conference and their potential path towards the finals. Since it was only implemented five years ago, it’s probably not going away soon. If the Bruins lose to Toronto, I’m not sure who I’m going to complain to. In theory, the B's really should have been a three seed and played six seed Philly.

The NBA, on the other hand, seems to be moving in the right direction. In February commissioner Adam Silver expressed the possibility of changing the playoff format from the standard East vs. West to rewarding the top 16 teams in the league. This was never done due to travel concerns. In 2018 I think millionaire athletes can suffer a few extra hours on a private team charter. The rest of us should be so lucky when we travel.

Right now this is the playoff bracket, with some good first round matchups (looking at you, Miami and Philly).

But what if I told you playoff bracket could play out something like this:

This would reward Denver, who would push Washington out of the playoffs (sorry Wizards). Up and coming Philly would see playoff staple San Antonio (unprecedented 21 straight seasons of making the post season), LeBron would face the Brow and New Orleans, and as a Celtics fan I would be lying if I said I was completely confident against a fully healthy Timberwolves squad.

And how about the Golden State and Cleveland series in round two?

As for the current bracket, the east still belongs to LeBron until somebody dethrones the Cavs. I might be eating those words because Cleveland’s team defense was the second worst in the league during the regular season, but I still wouldn’t bet against LeBron. Toronto needs to prove they’re not regular season frauds, the Celtics are all banged up, and Philly’s inexperience still leaves a question mark.

If everything lines up as it should in the west, the Houston Rockets will play the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. This series in essence is the NBA Finals, and the playoffs should be reformatted to showcase the league's two best teams. Hopefully the NBA won’t take a page from the NHL handbook and will make these changes for the better.

Please make it so, Mr. Silver.