04/15/26 04:47:00
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04/15 16:45 CDT NHL's disputed playoff format ought to make for a grand
entrance for the Central Division this year
NHL's disputed playoff format ought to make for a grand entrance for the
Central Division this year
By DAVE CAMPBELL
AP Sports Writer
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) --- The current concentration of power in the Western
Conference makes the Central Division a good bet to be the star of the show in
these Stanley Cup playoffs.
Don't wait for the ending, though. The bracket ensures that two of the
conference's top three teams --- Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota --- will be
ousted over the first two rounds.
"The rules are the rules, so you deal with them, and if you're going to win the
Stanley Cup, you've got to beat all the teams anyway, so it is what it is,"
Stars general manager Jim Nill said.
The postseason format the NHL brought back with the divisional realignment for
the 2013-14 season to intensify the first round and double down on regional
rivalries has occasionally proved controversial. With the Avalanche, Stars and
Wild cemented at the top of the conference and their division for most of the
season the calls for change have come louder this spring.
League-leading Colorado would face the Minnesota-Dallas winner in the second
round if the Avs beat the second wild card team as they will be favored to do.
The Stars, who have lost in the Western Conference final in each of the last
three years, don't get much of a reward for finishing third overall in the
league.
"Well, I've yet to meet somebody who likes it, so I'll leave it at that," Stars
forward Matt Duchene said. "I think everybody feels the same way. Regular
season should set you up well if you do well, and with our division being as
strong as it is, it doesn't, right? But at the same time, there's nothing we
can do about it. You've got to go through great teams no matter what round
you're in."
The Stars were close to overtaking the Avalanche last month before a late fade.
The bonus for Colorado of finishing first was avoiding a familiar Central
Division foe in the first round.
"We're just worried about our business. We like to clinch the one seed just to
be able to have home ice throughout the entire thing," center Brock Nelson said.
This will be just the third time in 13 years of the current format that the top
three teams in one conference were all in the same division. In past
occurrences, though, the favorites didn't fare well.
Washington, which led the NHL and won the Metropolitan Division in 2016-17,
lost in the second round to second-place Pittsburgh, which went on to win the
Stanley Cup. Dallas, which was second in the league in 2015-16, won the Central
Division with 109 points and lost in the second round to second-place St. Louis.
Commissioner Gary Bettman is committed to the format that fuels what he has
called the best first round of the playoffs in any sport, touting not only more
intense series but longer matchups that mean more games. This is a throwback to
a 12-year period between the 1981-82 and 1992-93 seasons when the NHL qualified
the top four teams from each division with no wild cards, until eventually
switching to conference-based seeds.
There's nostalgia in effect for those playing the game now who grew up watching
that era, or for those in coaching or executive roles who were players then,
which softens a bit the frustration of the format.
"Winning the Stanley Cup, there's no such thing as an easy path," said Nill,
who played for Winnipeg in the mid-1980s when his team was perpetually stuck
behind Edmonton and Calgary in the Smythe Division.
The Wild, who matched the third-best record in franchise history with 104
points, have lost nine straight series since the last time they advanced in
2015. Beating the Stars would be quite the way to end that skid.
"It's an opportunity for us to get better and to build our game and to
hopefully be there at the finish line, right? So I'm not too concerned about
who we're playing," forward Nick Foligno said. "I think this team understands
that if we play the way we need to, we have a great chance against anybody."
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AP Sports Writers Pat Graham in Denver and Stephen Hawkins in Dallas
contributed.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL
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