As long as I am being picky on rules, I am going to go a little bit into your play-off system (as I never really looked at it until now)... Why are we having 8 team play-offs with 9 team divisions? Seriously, just about ANYONE can make it in despite having a .500 winning percentage. We want to test our skills as much as possible, and how are we suppose to do it when 90% of the teams make the play-offs in each division.
I have two proposed systems:
System One
6 teams in each conference makes the play-offs. The top teams in each conference will be distributed across the top 3 seeds, and the last 3 spots will be wild cards, going out to the next top 3 teams (despite their division).
Week 1: 3 plays 6, 4 plays 5, 1 and 2 get byes.
Week 2: 1 plays lowest remaining seed, 2 plays second lowest remaining seed
Week 3: Winner of Week 2 play each other
Week 4: Conference winners battle for the CUP!
Pros: It gives a little more breathing space when it comes to making the play-offs while rewarding the GMs who worked hard to build a winning team. This will also reward competitive divisions, thus creating the possibilities of making a trade in your division a little deadly (like the real NHL).
System Two
4 Teams in each conference make the play-offs. The first three seeds will go to division winners while the final remaining spot (THE Wild Card) goes to the highest remaining seed in the conference.
Week 1: 1 plays 4, 2 plays 3
Week 2: Winners of Week 1 play each other
Week 3: Conference winners play each other for the CUP
Pros: We make the cut to the play-offs REALLY cut throat, thus increasing the competition in each division. We also add another week to the regular season, which will possible give us another week of trades and difficult decisions to make.
---------------------------------------------------------
I really like this league, but I HATE the play-off system you currently hold. I know you want to make this as close to the real NHL as possible, but 8 team play-offs in 9 team divisions is leaving no punishment for error or inconsistency. The NHL can do it because they have 15 teams in each division; while we only have 18 teams in the league period.
I honestly would hate to be the 1st seed and lose to an 8th seed that has more losses than wins on his record, as that would make my entire regular season look like a waste of time. So I say lets raise the stakes and cut the number of play-off contending teams down.
