Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Locked On Penguins 3/17-Let's talk playoff formats!

Episode Date: March 18, 2020

In this episode of Locked On Penguins, Hunter gives his thoughts on the potential for a 24 team playoff madness idea that was leaked yesterday, plus he shares his thoughts on the proposed player idea that was talked about in Insider Training on TSN today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to a Tuesday evening episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L0 underscore Penguins. Another day, basically another sunny day in the void as we continue to navigate through the coronavirus with no sports and everything. Today we're going to get to something I actually forgot to talk about on the podcast yesterday. There was a potential there was some leaks of that proposal. There could be a 2014. teams in the playoffs. If the NHL season comes back, I'll give my thoughts on that. And then also today on Insider Training with Frank Sarevelli, Darren Dregor and Pierre

LeBron, there's been some real reporting by them, especially Frank Sarevelli, that some of the players have thought about potentially a late July return with the playoffs in August and September. I'll get to that in another segment. But to start off, so yeah, to start off basically with the 24 teams, my thoughts on that, I think that would be kind of foolish. I think a team like the Chicago Blackhawks who's just that are below I think they're what below 500 overall

if you count the overtime losses they don't deserve to be in the playoffs this season heck you know they basically kind of sold at the deadline Montreal I think would be in it with the 24 teams in the playoffs you know they basically sold a little bit too their record is not really that good

um those is those just you just can't reward those kind of teams um that that cannot be the solution if the NHL is to come back can just go to the playoffs right away and do a, you know, a best of three or whatever. Just, like, having those kind of teams in there. You know, I don't mind like the Rangers, the Hurricanes, you know, a team like the Wild. You know, those teams have, you know, they deserve, like, a shot in this kind of scenario.

But 24, I think, is too much. Maybe if you do 20, 22, maybe, like, there's just got to be somewhere an answer in between. If you're the NFL, obviously the situation is really, really fluid. You know, there's probably changes on the day-to-day basis. You know, they're probably just spitballing ideas, honestly, as I speak right now, to you all. But, yeah, I just, I think 2014 is a bit too much. You know, with that, you know, if you look at the standings, you know, I think one thing that they could do,

you know, some of the teams could potentially get a buy, you know, like someone such as, you know, the Boston Bruins, you know, who are potentially going away. the President's Trophy if this resumes, if they resume in the regular season. San Bay Lightning, who have been ridiculous all season, well, for most of the season after they had their little hiccup for the first month of the year. Washington, Philadelphia in the east, maybe if you want to give the top four other teams in the West Bys, you know, Colorado, obviously, look at the standings, you know, something like Dallas, of course St. Louis, and then, of course, Vegas, who has been really,

really good. But, I mean, you could do it like that, but still, it's... just, there's just, there's so many bad teams that just don't deserve this. And, you know, in this scenario, you know, I was actually like, I was reading through a couple articles such as, you know, Travis Yose from TSN yesterday, you know, Pittsburgh would basically play Montreal in this scenario, and what, a best of three? You know, they're what, 15 points ahead of Pittsburgh, 15 points ahead of Montreal and they get, what, like a best of three with a team that doesn't deserve you in the playoffs? I mean, if you look at the standings, Montreal is, um, and I said, they're like,

almost, what, 10 games below 500 if you count the overtime losses as just regular losses and not loser points. Yeah, I mean, that's not really fair to Montreal. I don't really think Montreal would be Pittsburgh in a series, even though in a best of three, you know, anything can happen, but still, you know, Montreal is not up to the caliber of talent that Pittsburgh has. What I think would be interesting is maybe you give, well, I'm going to talk about this more in, like, my next segment for, like, what I would do for, like, for the NHL, like,

with the players with the realistic potential scenario. But, you know, in this particular scenario, I'd almost give, like, the number five seed in this scenario, like with Pittsburgh, and then out in the west with Edmonton, you know, thereby as well. You know, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh in the first round, and then Dallas, Dallas, Edmonton, geez, I'm just basically losing my mind here at this point.

It's like I can't read today. And then you can basically, like I said, you can have, you know, Columbus, Toronto for a best of three series, to go play Boston. Then, of course, like you said, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, then you can have Carolina, New York, best or three,

winner goes to play Tampa Bay, and then Islanders, Panthers, winner goes, plays the Capitals. And then, of course, out in the West, you know, you take the five thing out. Chicago doesn't deserve it.

Winnipeg, Calgary, winner goes to play the Avalanche. You know, Arizona, Nashville, winner goes, plays St. Louis. And then Vancouver, Minnesota, the winner go plays,

Vancouver, Minnesota, yeah, winner go plays Las Vegas. So, I think, honestly, that would be a bit better. I don't think a 5 versus 12, you know, especially in this scenario with Pittsburgh, Montreal,

and Edmonton, Chicago, I think you basically know what you're going to get what the results where this scenario are. I think you'd be stunned if it goes, you know, towards Chicago and towards Montreal. Crazy things have happened, but I just, and that, like I said, it goes on par

with what my idea would be with the player's idea, with what Frank Serbelli and Darren basically said, yeah, because those three playoff game. It's like they play in games with the best of three. They make sense. I think it's a really great way to try something new. I think the fans would really, really like that. It's just, you know, like I said, 22 teams, I think, like, is a lot better than 24.

Hell, maybe even 20 is a lot better than 22. I know I sound like I'm on repeat mode here, then I'm just repeating everything. But I really, really think that's the best option. And, you know, Matt Gacka, shout out to him. You know, he used to cover the Penguins for D.K. Pittsburgh Sports. He had a really, really similar article where, you know, he thought 24 teams is a bit too much, you know, just rewarding, you know, two extra teams for two really, really bad seasons, just really

isn't it. You know, I mean, I think something with the Panthers, you know, if you look at their record overall with their overtime losses, they're a below 500 team. I know they've been better this year than they have been. In previous years, I know they've been in the playoff time more, but still, when you look at that, I mean, a below 500 team, you really think, you know, that they potentially deserve to get in the playoffs. that's a little bit questionable.

You know, out in the West, I think Minnesota, I mean, ever since they made their coaching change, you know, they were lights out. Obviously, you know, Winnipeg, they're right there. I think they potentially deserve a shot, of course, Calgary being the number 8 team. Arizona is an interesting one to me, you know, also if you look at their record, like, do you think they really deserve to get in with how they trended the second half of the season? I know they had their really, really. really, really hot start to the season

under Rick talking. He was getting a lot of Jack Adams' praise from a lot of people. A couple of my friends actually thought that he deserved it. I was still hype on the Mike Sullivan trade. I still am if the NHL season does resume. But I don't know if you can really make a case that they deserve it.

Look at their record. You know, the 33 and 29 and 8, you know, you have that all up. That's what? 30, 33 and 37? You know, for a team that yeah, they got Taylor Hall. at the trade deadline, who's one of the best left-wingerers in hockey. They basically got him for peanuts, if we're being real here, from the devils

because the devils just weren't going to sign him. And yeah, they just, they tanked a little bit in the standings. And they have, like I said, they have Phil Kessel out there. Though, though granted, I know Phil Kessel has had a very, very big down year, but you know, Derek Stepon,

Clayton Keller, Oliver Eichmann-Larsson. I know their goaltending, the goaltending has been a bit banged up. this year too. You know, Auntie Ranta has had injury problems the past couple of seasons, but you know, still do they deserve to be in this? You know, I'm not really sure. Maybe you can only have two playing games, you know, I think that would also be really, really, I'm interesting. You know, like I said, I'm going to dive deeper into this coming up in this next segment

as for what the players actually, um, I've thought about in some group chats. All right, so, yeah, so today, of course, I'm sure you all saw with the insider training, Frank Cerrevelli, Jan Dregger, they basically, you know, were hurt. from players that there are some star players that apparently have won cons my Rocket Richard's Hart Trovies have been texting group chats basically trying to come up with maybe like a tentative plan you know just talking out some ideas again this it always the situation is very very fluid so you know who knows honestly what's going to happen but um their idea with this and honestly it kind of sounds realistic is to open up like a like a mini

training camp in early july so no talking until july um the Then they start the regular season, like a cup maybe a week after, a week or two. And the regular season finishes late July. Then the playoffs start in early August. They go through all of August, all of September. They award the Stanley Cup. Then the draft and free agency, all the off-season stuff comes in October. And then November, the regular season begins.

I'm not really sure if it's early November, mid-November, late November. But it would start in November. My personal thoughts on this, it's interesting to say the least. Like I said, I think it's one of the more realistic ones considering, you know, love him or hate him, obviously with the president. You know, he said that this potentially could carry into, you know, early July with just how bad it's been and how bad it's potentially going to become. You know, this thing is probably going to peak in the next month. You know, I've said on a lot. You know, a lot of people, I'm sure, are saying this.

This is going to get worse before it gets better. And, excuse me, Pierre LeBron actually had a really, really good line when I was listening to The Insider Training. and basically he said he talked to a governor of a team and basically they said yeah you know if the NHL comes back in mid-May you know early June and someone tests positive for the coronavirus then you basically just have to shut it all down you know you can't you can't play it because like you came back too early so this gives the opportunity for you know for this to die down even more

the injured players especially I think this will be really really big for them you know of course you know not as big as just the virus is dying down in general but still, you know, this would be big for the injure players, you know, such as a Jake Gensel for the Penguins podcast. I think he would be healthy by then, especially by late July, August. Well, that would be April, May, June, July. Yeah, that's basically five to six months in his recovery. So he would probably be, he would, in this scenario, folks, I think the Penguins would get Jake Gensel back. So yes, great news.

You know, Stephen Stamco's, he would be more than healthy, I think, coming back from his hernia. Ducky Hamilton, you know, I could probably spend 20 minutes listening more. players from this that would be back healthy for it. I guess the only downside of it is that the regular offseason is only going to be four weeks, but, you know, as some people I've been reading on Twitter have been saying, you know, you can basically look at the offseason as being right now. A lot of the players went back to their offseason homes. The NHL is allowing it.

You just have to self-quarantine while you're in there. You really can't go out as basically, you know, a lot of the states, the governors in the states are basically just saying, you know, stay home. Dolping groups of more than 10 people, you know, et cetera, etc. Etra, et cetera. And, you know, which brings us to this regular season, do they really need to play out the rest of the regular season? I get, you know, teams you still have, you know,

10 to 13 games remaining in the regular season. You want to still have maybe a little bit of the playoff race. But, you know, maybe just try to get every team to maybe, like, what, 75 games or something. You don't need to play 10 or 13 more games to finish off the regular season. Hell, you could also go right into the playoffs. And what I was, you know, my idea, honestly, for this, you know, I was alluding to it in the last segment. You know, just stick with the 16 teams, but, you know, just to add something new,

have a few play-in games for the conference. You know, it might be two playoff games. And, you know, just like Travis Yose laid it out, like I said, in his article, you know, Winnipeg Calgary. Have that be some play-in games. And don't do what the MLB does with the wild card game. I don't think a one, a single game playoff is just, A lot of luck goes into it.

I think a best of three would really, really be good in that scenario. And, you know, the winner of that goes to play the number one seat. I think that would be really, really good for the fans. It would be really, really entertaining just as, honestly, as a casual spectator, watching a sport for one of their first times. You know, you don't need Edmonton, Chicago, like I said. But, hell, you don't even need National Arizona. And then the other playing game, you know, Vancouver, Minnesota,

that would be really, really cool. And that's if, you know, you don't even start the reggae season. You just go right into the playoffs. And, you know, best of three, winner goes, plays Vegas. And then you have, of course, St. Louis playing Nashville. And then Dallas playing Edmonton. I honestly, you know, and you really don't have to, do you have to do this stupid rivalry playoff format? I honestly think this will be much better just for this year.

You could try out something new. See if the fans in the media like it. You know, we all know a lot of people really don't like the current play. format as, you know, I don't think any of us probably need to see the same teams playing each other year after year after year. For God's sake, we had Penguins Capitals for three years in a row. That was kind of annoying way. We almost had it for four years or no. We honestly would have had it last year. Well, we probably wouldn't because the Penguins got swept. And, of course, the Hurricanes beat the Capitals in seven games. So we probably weren't going to have it last year.

We know we very well could have it this year if the season gets unsuspended. But still, still, two playing games, I think, is the way to go. I think three is, you can maybe get away with it, but two definitely. And then in the east, especially, you know, you go swirled to the east, you know, Columbus, Toronto, best of three. It rewards both those teams, especially Columbus, who no one expecting Columbus to be where they are this year. I know the loser point has done them a lot of good. You take away their loser points, and they're a below 500 team as well, but still, it's not as bad as some other teams, Still, I mean, it's not, like I said, I'm not really a big fan of below 500 teams in the playoffs.

But the way that John Tortorella has really put that team into a playoff contention is nothing short of a miracle, considering what they lost over the all season. Toronto, of course, they know it would maybe be a slight favorite in that, but still the winner of that can go play Boston. Like I said, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia would be great. And then, Rangers, you don't really, see, then that's tough. That's, I think, like, of the 6-11 games, because the other one, the 6-11 game is Nashville, Arizona, and I only think Arizona deserves to be in there. That's a tough one, because I think you can easily make the argument that the Rangers

deserve to have this opportunity with the season that they've had. It's a good debate, man. I'm, like, going back and forth on it, honestly, as I'm talking to you guys right now. But I think some Rangers fans would honestly rest a bit easy, knowing, though, that this team is going to be really, really good next season, even if this season is not canceled entirely because there were going to be a playoff team next season or the season, definitely the season after. That team is going to be really, really good in the next couple years. So you could probably get away with that, you know, not having that.

But then, of course, Islanders, Panthers, you know, the rematch, of course, when Trocheque was tripped, but they didn't call it. And then, of course, you know, John Taviris ended up winning the game, obviously, had the Islander's first playoff series in one over 20 years. Two decades, I still can't believe that that happened for them. But, you know, best of three winner goes to play the caps. The two division teams, the two division

leaders get a buy, and of course Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Pittsburgh Philly. So, I think that's you know, that's what I would do personally, you know, that's my thing. Two buys that he's what, 20 teams. Go right to the playoffs, two play

to best of three playoff series games. Yeah, I mean, that's my thing with it. I think another thing, and then, of course, you know, I saw the debate today basically with, you know, should every series be a best of seven? And, you know, a lot of people are going to be like, oh, yeah, it always should be, you know, it's the hardest trophy to win in sports. I'm not disagreeing with you. You know, you have to go four best of seven series is, you know, to win the Stanley Cup. You know, in baseball, you know, you have a best of five, of course, in the DS, and the championship series. best of seven. NFL, of course, single elimination, though that trophy is obviously very hard.

Then the NBA is also best at seven, but still, I think, obviously, I think you could talk to anyone in the NHL's Stanley Cup is harder to win than the NBA finals. You know, just look what the Golden State Warriors did for basically during their dynasty. But in any case, I think you would potentially have to shorten the playoffs. I don't really know if you need two full months to crown the Stanley Cup, especially in August in September when the weather is really, really warm. How, like I said, you can honestly just go to, like I said, the mini camp in July, and then mid-July, late July, start up the playoffs, and then have them in late August, early September.

I think that would be fine, and then you get the rest of the off-season, you can get the draft and the free agency, you can move all that. You know, October, maybe you can have the off-season, and then maybe you can start in November. I think that that would also be really cool. I was reading that apparently some owners want to schedule as few games as possible in the month of October. I'm not really sure why I'm going to have to go double back and read that. But still, maybe the first round, maybe the first two rounds could be a best of five.

I think that's fine. You know, you could do it like how the MLB does it, like I said, with the first round, you know, with the National League Division series being a best of five. And then, you know, the Eastern Conference final like it is with baseball, the American League pennant, the National League pennant series. being a best of seven, you know, the conference finals, and then, of course, the World Series and the Stanley Cup, being a best of seven series.

You know, the Seneca Final always has to be a best of seven series, and I think the conference finals also always have to be a best of seven series. I don't really think you can get away with shortening either of those. Those are the top two best teams for a reason, the top four best teams for a reason if you look at the conference finals, and there's no reason to change that. But like I said, to shorten it up, you know, I've even seen some people basically saying the first round should be a best of three.

Not really sure if I'm on that train. I think that's a little too short. I think a best of five would work perfect. Like I said, it shortens the playoffs. You really, really don't need two full months for the Stanley Cup playoffs. I think that's coming in silly, in my opinion. And then, you know, from trying something new, I think basically starting out the season, you know, starting out the playoffs with 20 teams to play in.

Like I said, the two, the play-ins, the bet. can be a best of three. First round, 16 teams, best of five. Second round teams, best of five. Conference championships, conference finals, best of seven. Stanley Cup final, best of seven. I think that is a really, honestly, a really, really, really good model for the NHL to do. Will they do it? I'm not really sure, you know, like I said,

I've said so many times this episode, so this is a very, very fluid situation. You know, that they're going to keep spitball and ideas for eternity until this virus slows down and you know it's like i said earlier in the podcast um it's not going to slow down anytime soon with how um people are you know refusing to uh stay in their homes and just you know they keep going out and you know especially you know tonight with st patrick's day i'm sure plenty of people are being stupid and going out drinking when you know you could easily just do it inside your house um you know but you know people like to be dumb and do that you know especially like i said yesterday's episode with clear water florida you know i wish they could just put a jaws in the ocean to just

basically tell everyone not to go in there because there is a giant shark but that might I think do it for today's episode of Locked-on Penguins unless I'm missing anything from the thing that I watched today let me know what you guys think about this you know just tweet me at me

you know just tell if you think I'm an idiot please tell me that I'm an idiot you know I'm an idiot probably 90-90-95% of the things that I do in my life I'm not afraid to admit it you know I have a lot of crappy takes you know I guess that's why people follow, follow me and follow the show. You know, like I said,

if you think that my idea is stupid, please tell me. If you think my idea is one of the best ideas you've ever heard, also please tell me. You know, I'm here for all the feedback. You know, of course, keep following me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins, you know,

just for show-wise, you know, we got, we all got an email today for all the hosts of the different locked-on NHL shows. You know, there's going to be some really, really cool ideas coming in the next couple of weeks with, you know, stuff that's going to be coming on on the show, you know, that I'm really, really excited to do with you guys. We're going to get through this together, as I've said yesterday

and, you know, the last week, we're going to get through this. It is going to get better. We are coming, going to get out of this. And, you know, I pray for each and one of you that you guys don't get sick. You know, just keep washing your hands. Stay away from people. Stay home. You know, don't get anyone infected if, you know, just please, please don't.

Like I said, stay safe. You know, and, you know, we'll have more locked on penguins episodes coming for you guys this week. I'll still kick back the series that I started off the other day, of course, with some of the biggest penguins playoff series of the last decade with the Flyers. Probably have another one coming for you guys tomorrow. You know, it's not going to be a good memory, but you know what? We're going to get through it together. So like I said, all you stay safe.

My thoughts and prayers are again out there with everyone that's affected by the virus, you know, especially out, you know, in places like Italy, you know, like a place like New York, which is really getting hammered right now as well, just, you know, around the world in general. So like I said, stay safe, wash your hands. Keep listening to Locked on Penguins. And I'll be back with another episode for you guys tomorrow.