{"id":412902,"date":"2026-01-17T12:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/412902\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T12:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:20:14","slug":"is-this-the-year-that-finally-crumbles-the-nhls-playoff-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/412902\/","title":{"rendered":"Is this the year that finally crumbles the NHL\u2019s playoff format?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning, hockey folks. This section is where Sean would say something funnier than I\u2019ll ever come up with. So, picture that and read on.<\/p>\n

Parity\u2019s effect on the playoffs<\/p>\n

Speaking of DGB<\/a>, he\u2019s been doing a great job tracking the chaos<\/a> of the results around the league each week, and last night\u2019s games<\/a> offered more of the same.<\/p>\n

The Winnipeg Jets \u2014 sitting in last place as of a week ago \u2014 pounded one of the top teams in the league, the Minnesota Wild, 6-2 for their fourth W in a row, ending an 11-game losing skid that appeared to crush their season. (Loseipeg no more?)<\/p>\n

The Bruins (on a 7-1-0 streak), Sabres (15-2-0), Penguins (7-2-1) and Sharks (7-2-0) also all won, and those four have been among the NHL\u2019s hottest seven teams since the Christmas break. (Despite basically no one picking them to make the postseason back in the fall.)<\/p>\n

And Columbus got in the win column again in game No. 2 for the recently unretired Rick Bowness, the septuagenarian coach who will add to the Blue Jackets\u2019 feel-good story<\/a> if they can turn their season around.<\/p>\n

So, where does the NHL\u2019s jumbled mess now sit, 748 games (57 percent) into 2025-26?<\/p>\n

If the playoffs started today\u2026<\/p>\n

Based on points percentage (league rank in parentheses)<\/p>\n

Eastern Conference<\/p>\n

Atlantic Division<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay (2nd) vs. Boston (12th)
\nDetroit (7th) vs. Montreal (8th)<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Division<\/p>\n

Carolina (4th) vs. Buffalo (9th)
\nIslanders (10th) vs. Pittsburgh (11th)<\/p>\n

Western Conference<\/p>\n

Central Division<\/p>\n

Colorado (1st) vs. Utah (20th)
\nDallas (3rd) vs. Minnesota (5th)<\/p>\n

Pacific Division<\/p>\n

Vegas (6th) vs. San Jose (19th)
\nEdmonton (17th) vs. Seattle (18th)<\/p>\n

Out of playoffs: Toronto (13th), Florida (14th), Philadelphia (15th), Washington (16th)<\/p>\n

I know everyone\u2019s pretty jammed together, but if this is where we\u2019re headed, it\u2019s not great.<\/p>\n

You have three of the league\u2019s top five teams all facing each other in the first two rounds in the Central Division. Carolina somehow gets a tougher opponent, Buffalo, than in the other Metro Division matchup. And with the Atlantic Division on fire of late, four Eastern Conference teams with records in the NHL\u2019s top 16 are missing the playoffs to allow the craptastic Pacific Division to send weaker clubs in for a soft road to the conference finals.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve long known the NHL\u2019s division-heavy playoff format needs tweaking \u2014 ideally going back to at least a 1-vs.-8 setup to better reward teams that have good regular seasons \u2014 but this year might just hammer home its issues more than ever before.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t say we didn\u2019t see it coming after so many years where the first two rounds have had better series (and teams) than Round 3.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n (Ethan Miller \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Marner gets revenge win<\/p>\n

Vegas\u2019 Mitch Marner heard from some boobirds in his first game against his former club \u2014 and surprisingly, they were in his home rink.<\/p>\n

While the Maple Leafs pushed out to a 5-3 lead late, they couldn\u2019t hold on, eventually conceding a 6-5 overtime loss to the Golden Knights in a highly entertaining game<\/a> that extended Vegas\u2019 win streak to six.<\/p>\n

Marner was a little quiet in this one but did have a couple of power-play assists as part of the comeback, playing as Vegas\u2019 second-line center and PP QB.<\/p>\n

You know what won\u2019t be quiet? The rematch between these two teams next week in Toronto. The vitriol will be quite evident, given how many Leafs fans feel spurned by Marner leaving as a pending unrestricted free agent back in June.<\/p>\n

MirTrivia Question<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll stick with the theme here.<\/p>\n

Since he entered the league in 2016-17, Marner has an incredible 558 assists in 703 games, an average of 65 every 82 games.<\/p>\n

Can you name the only four players who have more?<\/p>\n

Coast to Coast<\/p>\n

7\ufe0f\u20e3 These seven teams<\/a> have big decisions to make at the trade deadline. Buffalo as buyers?<\/p>\n

\u2668\ufe0f NHL commish Gary Bettman has a new favorite show, and it\u2019s probably not what you\u2019d expect<\/a>. (Binged it in one night? That\u2019s a lot of heat<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udce3 There\u2019s no NHL All-Star Game this year due to the Olympics, but that isn\u2019t stopping the Power Rankings guys from naming fake rosters for a nonexistent game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcca Dom Luszczyszyn gets charty with it<\/a> in his latest edition of 16 Stats, which looks at Connor McDavid\u2019s hot streak, the Atlantic Division\u2019s strength, the Devils\u2019 struggles and much more.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd14 Will the Rangers rebuild or retool<\/a> in the aftermath of what looks to be a disastrous season? We\u2019re certainly seeing how vital Igor Shesterkin is since his injury.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfd2 We need your help: We\u2019re working on a story that looks at all 32 arenas around the NHL and we\u2019re asking you to rate your local rink here<\/a>. (There\u2019s even space to vent about how much those beers cost.)<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfa4 On the latest episode of \u201cThe Athletic Hockey Show\u201d: Who will replace Brayden Point<\/a> on Team Canada if his injury forces him out of the Olympics?<\/p>\n

\u26f8\ufe0f Picture a 7-foot-1 NBA champion in custom size 18 ice skates playing in a celebrity hockey game. It could happen, thanks to Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n (Sarah Stier \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The next big name on the move?<\/p>\n

A $9 million defenseman sitting as a healthy scratch<\/a> has a way of driving some headlines.<\/p>\n

After Dougie Hamilton sat out in the Devils\u2019 loss in Winnipeg last Sunday, he has three points in two games \u2014 both wins \u2014 as New Jersey attempts to right its disappointing season. Next up, the Devils have a tough test against the Hurricanes, who, in my opinion, just might be the frontrunners<\/a> to acquire the big defenseman.<\/p>\n

Hamilton is an interesting case. He\u2019s 32 years old and has had a lot of recent injuries, but some top teams are still very intrigued by the minute-eating right-shot blueliner. Offense has been hard to come by for Hamilton this season, but over the previous three years, he\u2019s 12th in the league<\/a> in points per game among defensemen. And his defensive results<\/a> remain high-end.<\/p>\n

The big question is whether the Devils are willing to retain any salary on his deal, and if so, how that impacts their return.<\/p>\n

Given the terse statement<\/a> from Hamilton\u2019s agent the other day, this certainly doesn\u2019t feel like a marriage that\u2019s going to last much longer.<\/p>\n

Weekly reminder: The NHL has a roster freeze<\/a> for the Olympics that begins the afternoon of Feb. 4, so that may act as a second trade deadline and encourage some movement in the next 18 days. And the real trade deadline is March 6, only 10 days after players return from the Games.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\n (Geoff Stellfox \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

MirTrivia Answer<\/p>\n

The four players who have more assists than Marner\u2019s 558 over the past 10 years in the NHL are:<\/p>\n

Connor McDavid (741)
\nNikita Kucherov (600)
\nNathan MacKinnon (599)
\nLeon Draisaitl (560)<\/p>\n

Marner is only two helpers back of Draisaitl, despite playing 26 fewer games.<\/p>\n

(Yes, we know, Leafs fans \u2014 we\u2019ll see what happens in the playoffs. Potentially even a rematch between the Golden Knights and Oilers to see who wins the Pacific.)<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Red Light?\u00a0Check out\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Light newsletter\u00a0\ud83c\udfd2\u00a0| This is\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s\u00a0hockey\u00a0newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive Red Light directly in your inbox. Good morning, hockey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-412902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}