Quote:
Originally Posted by saskriders
Next year, instead of the top 3 teams of each division advancing to the playoffs, with a bye for division winners, there will be the top 4 teams in each division advancing to quarter finals, with the two bottom teams having a best of 3 for avoiding relegation.
So if this was used last year it would probably look like this (not 100% sure about how playoff seeds would work, but can guess based off of WC)
QF1: Sweden-Switzerland
QF2: Finland-Czech Republic
QF3: Canada-US
QF4: Russia-Slovakia
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Just to make sure, you're stating this is going to be in place next year, not just proposing, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by saskriders
Personally, I like this format. 8 teams in the playoffs means that all the big 7 teams make the playoffs. It also give the 2nd tier countries a playoff spot to fight over. More playoff games also means more chance of upsets. The only thing I would consider changing is maybe expanding to 12 or 14 teams.
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I think 14 teams would definitely be too much, and it would just split the elite division into two groups, and there would just be more blowout games. It would give teams a chance to play better teams, but personally I don't think a tournament alone and getting that experience will improve the respective countries' programs and competitiveness to warrant an expansion. 12 might be good, though, especially with Germany, Norway, Denmark and Belarus probably being quite close to one another in terms of strength. You'd also get a chance to relegate two teams so as to get more turnover.