NHL has no plans to change current playoff format or revert to classic 1-8 matchups
MANALAPAN, Fla. — Hockey fans hoping for fundamental changes to the NHL’s playoff format or the matrix and timing of the regular season schedule should not hold their breath.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman poured cold water on both subjects on Wednesday when wrapping up the league’s annual general managers meetings.
There was a recent surge in debate about whether or not the league should return to a classic 1-versus-8, 2-versus-7 format as opposed to the current divisional brackets. That comes with the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche, two of the top six teams in the league this season, on a first-round collision course.
One of those Stanley Cup contenders is guaranteed to be bitter in late April.
“The best team to win the Cup has got to get through the best teams,” Bettman said. “Having great matchups in the first round, that’s terrific. That’s not a problem. That’s a great thing.”
Bettman also dispelled the notion that the league might consider a play-in format, as has been requested by some team governors.
“You guys know I’m pretty dug-in on this,” Bettman said. “I like exactly what we have and if you look at the races that we’re having for the regular season, playoffs have started already. We’re in our play-in tournament and I think it’s terrific. What can be more compelling and exciting and entertaining than that?
There has also been buzz lately that the NHL and NHL Players’ Association—who plan to begin CBA discussions in the first week of April, according to Bettman—will expand to an 84-game regular season, up from 82. That is likely, but Bettman said it probably won’t be a fundamental change or an overhaul of the current matrix with every team playing every other team in the league at least twice.
Bettman revealed the 2025-26 NHL regular season will begin on Oct. 7. With a three-week Olympic break, the schedule will be condensed and again result in the Stanley Cup being awarded in late June.
“The answer is it’s something that we should be discussing with the Players’ Association and a shorter preseason, and it’s something that we should discuss,” Bettman said. “But we need to take each other’s temperature and decide if it’s the right thing. So don’t be speculating that’s an issue and we’re running off doing it. It’s out there. You’ve been talking about it, we’ve been talking about it internally. But it doesn’t mean we’re there.”
The NHL and NHLPA are also unlikely to evolve into an expanded 3-on-3 overtime period, as seen during the 4 Nations Face-Off, as Bettman cited deteriorating ice conditions and additional wear-and-tear on players.
Quotable
“This is what the clubs said they wanted. And we’ve said, ‘Listen, we’ll go through this experience’ and if there’s a surge of interest to go back, we’ll put it back to the clubs again. We thought we ended the old framework with a bang doing it in the Sphere, and if the sense is, you know what, we’d rather be together — we’ve let the clubs make this determination and we’ll execute it in accordance with their desire. But if there’s a desire to go back because the clubs miss each other, miss being on the floor together, we’ll put it back to a vote again. We can be flexible. This is us executing the will of the clubs.”
— Bettman on the NHL moving to a decentralized Draft this June in Los Angeles, which was clearly the will of the clubs and not the league office.
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