Some questions I hope someone can answer...

[Sabre fan]

Pardon my ignorance, but I have no clue how it is that Montreal is playing the Rangers while Boston and Ottawa are playing and Pittsburg and Columbus...being a Sabre fan I have not really worried about the playoff setup but something seems amiss with how they decide who plays who. Did they change this at some point cause I always remember the top team against the bottom, and so on. Also does anyone know how this whole Kyle Okoposo thing may play out if he never plays again? are we stuck with his cap hit for the next whatever years? that would be a major blow to our cap obviously. we really need this guy in the lineup and this would be a major lose. and thirdly does anyone know if this defenceman from the  KHL Antipin is any good? like good enough to make the team better? and lastly does anyone really think or believe that Ottawa or Boston or whoever really has more talent then the Sabres? Really? I think it is more a question of them getting  so much out of their players...

[Sabel79]

Montreal is the second placed division winner, so they get the wild card team with the most points irrespective of division.

 

Not going to speculate on KO, other than the Sabres wouldn't be screwed with his cap bit if he's on LTIR, or the Russian dude I know nothing about.

 

As to your last question, in general, no.

[LGR4GM]

We would not be on the hook for Okposo's cap hit if he cannot play. He would be placed on LTIR and we would recover money each game he didn't play against the cap. That is my understanding. So his salary is divided out over 82 games, each game he is on LTIR we recover that amount and can use it on someone else. If this isn't how it works, someone please correct me.

[Doohicksie]

Not that he was a big cap hit, but I think that's what happened with Cody McCormick this year.  He sat on LTIR all season long due to a problem with blood clots and his salary didn't count against our cap.  (Had he come off LTIR, his salary would again go against the cap.)

[MattPie]

I'll expand on the seeding (as I understand it):

- Top division winner in points gets Wildcard 2 (fewer points)

- Other division winner in points get Wildcard 1 (more points)

- remaining 4 teams play their division opponent (Atlantic vs Altlantic, Metro vs. Metro)

[Rico7]

I'll expand on the seeding (as I understand it):

- Top division winner in points gets Wildcard 2 (fewer points)

- Other division winner in points get Wildcard 1 (more points)

- remaining 4 teams play their division opponent (Atlantic vs Altlantic, Metro vs. Metro)

I hate the current playoff format. Just play Div 1 winner plays 8th seed, Div winner 2 player 7th seed, then 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5. 

[SabresBaltimore]

I hate the new playoff format. How is it that Columbus has to play Pittsburgh in the opening round? As someone rooting for the Caps (and Toronto hater) I'm happy the Caps escaped those 2 teams in the first round, especially Pittsburgh, but I think they should just have stuck with top 8 teams and do the old 1-8 matchups.

 

Of course with the Caps post season record, and Toronto doing way better this year that I expected they'll probably beat the Caps in 6 or 7 games instead of losing in 5 like they should.

[Eleven]

I hate the new playoff format. How ###### is it that Columbus has to play Pittsburgh in the opening round? As someone rooting for the Caps (and Toronto hater) I'm happy the Caps escaped those 2 teams in the first round, especially Pittsburgh, but I think they should just have stuck with top 8 teams and do the old 1-8 matchups.

 

Of course with the Caps post season record, and Toronto doing way better this year that I expected they'll probably beat the Caps in 6 or 7 games instead of losing in 5 like they should.

 

On the other hand, we're guaranteed a matchup between Columbus and Pittsburgh this way.

[pi2000]

On the other hand, we're guaranteed a matchup between Columbus and Pittsburgh this way.

 

1 of the top 4 teams in the entire NHL will be gone after round 1 and 3 of the top 5 after round 2.  

 

Dumb.

Edited April 13, 2017 by pi2000

[Eleven]

1 of the top 4 teams in the entire NHL will be gone after round 1 and 3 of the top 5 after round 2.  

 

Dumb.

 

Or an upset, under the old system, that prevents a marquee matchup.  Just as dumb.

[Huckleberry]

On the other hand, we're guaranteed a matchup between Columbus and Pittsburgh this way.

 

That is the point, they wanted to create more rivalries.

[SwampD]

That is the point, they wanted to create more rivalries.

I like it for that tesson. It guarantees 4 divisional rivalries out of the eight first series.

[pi2000]

I like it for that tesson. It guarantees 4 divisional rivalries out of the eight first series.

 

That's great for rivalries, but I'd rather the 4 best teams meet up in the conference finals, rather than the 1st round.    

 

That is, if the goal is such that the best teams meet in the Finals, right?

[MattPie]

That's great for rivalries, but I'd rather the 4 best teams meet up in the conference finals, rather than the 1st round.    

 

That is, if the goal is such that the best teams meet in the Finals, right?

 

If that were the case, they wouldn't divide east and west, just 1-16. The playoff system is strange this year in the East because the divisions are so unbalanced. I'm not sure that's normally the case.

[pi2000]

If that were the case, they wouldn't divide east and west, just 1-16. The playoff system is strange this year in the East because the divisions are so unbalanced. I'm not sure that's normally the case.

 

It used to be 1-16, with 1 playing 16 and so forth, best two teams meet in the Finals    That was fun, they should go back to that... anybody remember when BUF played VAN in the first round and then I think CHI or MIN in the second round?

[Randall Flagg]

I won't be complaining when the 10th place Sabres face the 12th place Panthers in the first round next season while the 1st through 5th teams are beating each other up, that's for sure.

[MattPie]

I won't be complaining when the 10th place Sabres face the 12th place Panthers in the first round next season while the 1st through 5th teams are beating each other up, that's for sure.

 

I'm not sure that follows. Taking one conference, let's see one division is complete terrible, the other is good. The top 5 teams in the good division (GD) are in the playoffs taking both WC slots; let's say every team of those 5 are better than every one of the 3 in the bad division (BD), but those 3 are better than the remaining 3 in the good division (the must have lost a lot to the 5 juggernauts).

 

So the conference standings are 1-5 GD, 6-8 BD by points. in this case, the "old" seeding would be (only two divisions instead of three): 1-8, 6-7, 2-5 , 3-4. The new seeding is 1-5, 6-4, 2-3, 7-8. I'm not seeing a huge difference there. Each has one series of 5-8 teams and one series of 1-4 teams.