Member-only story
The NHL should go to a 24 team playoff permanently
Keep fans engaged longer.
Due to the suspension of the 2019–20 NHL season, the National Hockey League and their player’s association are negotiating a 24 team playoff format to restart the season and go straight into the playoffs.
We don’t know what the 24 team playoff will look like yet, but now that we live in a 32 team NHL universe, perhaps the league should look at using an expanded playoff format for future seasons as well.
What would it look like?
I would suggest that the NHL borrow from Major League Soccer and start with a two-game total point series to determine who plays in the standard 16 team format.
The National Hockey League will have 32 teams (once Seattle comes in next year) split up into two conferences of 16 teams who, in turn, have two divisions each of 8 teams.
In this expanded 24 team playoff format, the top two teams in each division would automatically be part of the round of 16. The 3rd through 6th place teams would play a two-game, total point series to determine who takes on the top teams in the league.
The 3rd place team would play the 6th place team, and the 4th place team would play the 5th place team.
