Gary Bettman Has No Plans To Expand NHL Playoffs
More doesn’t necessarily always mean better. College football is about to find that out the hard way. It seems like every sports league in the world is trying to expand their postseason. Gary Bettman will not expand for the sake of expanding.
Bettman was asked if the NHL should expand their playoffs for one very good reason. Everyone else is doing it so why not the NHL? In 2022, MLB (30 teams) expanded from eight playoff entrants to 12. It wasn’t long ago the NHL (32 teams) expanded from 12 to 14. The NBA is the closest winter sport example to follow since they line up calendar wise and both have 82 game seasons. The NBA added the play-in tournament to try to add.
Some of us here are not fans of the NBA play-in. I think that’s the exact scenario Bettman wants to try to avoid. Soooo when Bettman was asked about playoff expansion, he was pretty blunt with his response.
“Frankly, there’s nothing better in sports playoffs than our first round, and so I’m not sensing much of an appetite for change,” Bettman said. “People think the system we have in place right now is working extraordinarily well.
“I think what we have now works. I think you’re looking to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.”
“I’m not sure it enhances revenues, by diluting the regular season and diluting the playoffs,” Bettman said. “It doesn’t make much sense to me. I think we have a system where half the teams make the playoffs and half don’t, I think that’s perfect.”
I think we have our answer. As long as Bettman is in charge, don’t expect an expanded playoff. I don’t think any real fans of the NHL are going to be complaining for that to change. The Stanley Cup is maybe the most entertaining playoffs of any sport that exists and Bettman knows it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
