ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Western Conference’s powerhouse teams are set to cannibalize each other in what promises to be a dramatic Stanley Cup playoff run, thanks to a controversial NHL bracket system that has drawn criticism from players and management alike.
The playoff structure guarantees that at least two of the conference’s three strongest teams – Colorado, Dallas, and Minnesota – will be eliminated before reaching the conference finals, despite their dominant regular season performances.
“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 NHL reintroduced this divisional-focused playoff system during the 2013-14 season restructuring, aiming to create more intense opening rounds and strengthen geographic rivalries. However, the format has sparked debate, particularly this spring as the Avalanche, Stars, and Wild dominated both their division and conference standings throughout most of the season.
Colorado, despite leading the entire league, would meet either Minnesota or Dallas in round two if they advance as expected against the second wild card team. Meanwhile, Dallas receives little benefit for securing the third-best record league-wide, having reached the Western Conference championship in each of the previous three seasons.
“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.”
Dallas nearly caught Colorado for the top spot last month before stumbling in the final stretch. Colorado’s first-place finish at least earned them the advantage of avoiding a Central Division rival in the opening 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 marks only the third instance in the current format’s 13-year history where one conference’s top three teams all belonged to the same division. In previous similar situations, the favored teams struggled to capitalize on their regular season dominance.
During the 2016-17 season, Washington led the NHL and captured the Metropolitan Division title, only to fall in round two to second-seeded Pittsburgh, which subsequently claimed the Stanley Cup. Similarly, in 2015-16, Dallas topped the Central Division with 109 points and the league’s second-best record, but lost in the second round to runner-up St. Louis.
Commissioner Gary Bettman remains dedicated to the current structure, which he promotes as creating the most exciting first round in professional sports, emphasizing both competitive intensity and extended series that generate additional games. The format echoes a 12-year period from 1981-82 through 1992-93 when the NHL selected each division’s top four teams without wild card spots, before eventually adopting conference-based seeding.
Players and executives who experienced or watched that earlier era feel some nostalgic connection to the current system, which helps temper their frustration with the format’s drawbacks.
“Winning the Stanley Cup, there’s no such thing as an easy path,” said Nill, who competed for Winnipeg during the mid-1980s when his squad consistently finished behind Edmonton and Calgary in the Smythe Division.
Minnesota, which achieved their third-best franchise record with 104 points, has suffered through nine consecutive series defeats since their last playoff advancement in 2015. Defeating Dallas would provide a significant breakthrough to snap that lengthy drought.
“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.”
