With a month remaining in the NHL regular season, clubs are jockeying for position inside their respective divisions and for wild-card spots in the Eastern and Western Conferences. The league switched from a conference-based to a division-centric format in 2013-14 mostly to take advantage of rivalries and cut down on travel in the post-season, but going into the 10th season of this format (the 2020 and 2021 playoffs were altered due to COVID), the same matchups have become stale and in certain instances unfair.
Based on the current standings with 20 percent of the schedule remaining, the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings are likely to meet for the fourth consecutive year in the Pacific Division semi-final, while the Toronto Maple Leafs could face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division for the third time in four years next month after losing to the Boston Bruins for the third time since 2018 last post-season.
The main problem with the current intradivision structure is the “2nd - 3rd corridor of hell”. With the conference-based format that was in place from 1993 to 2013, the division winners occupied the top spots, with the remaining six spots being ranked in order of best record. This allowed for the division winners to play the two bottom playoff qualifiers and allowed for the possibility of intradivision matchups, but did not exclude a crossover.
If a conference based playoff structure were currently in place, the current matchups for the Eastern Conference would be the same as with the current format. The top-seeded Washington Capitals would face the Rangers, the reigning Cup Champion Florida Panthers would take on Atlantic Division rival Ottawa, the Maple Leafs would matchup with the Lightning, and the Carolina Hurricanes would meet New Jersey.
However, the Western Conference would be dramatically different. The Central Division-leading Winnipeg Jets in either structure would face Vancouver in the first round and the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights would take on Minnesota, but instead of facing Colorado in the opening round, the Dallas Stars would matchup with the Oilers, and the Avs would meet the Kings.
There could be changes with a new collective bargaining agreement on the horizon. Expansion could lead to an increase from 16 to 18 or even 20 playoff teams. And rumors of a possible increase in the amount of games from 82 to 84 (four games against the other seven teams inside each division, three games against each team in the other division in the conference and two games against each team in the other conference) would make the divisional structure less meaningful. Even if those changes do not come to pass, changing from the divisional to a conference playoff format would allow for more unique playoff matchups, especially in the opening round.
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