The playoffs are almost here and the Blackhawks are not in it, unsurprisingly.

If only they were in the Pacific Division, which is not good. They'd still be not in the playoffs. They'd still be not in the playoffs. But they'd be closer. Absolutely. The Pacific Division this year, it's been a joked about forever. Yeah, Connor McDavid called it a pillow fight. And that's pretty accurate, which has me thinking. and I think we've a lot of people have been thinking about this for years.

And I think we've a lot of people have been thinking about this for years. And I think we've a lot of people have been thinking about this for years. Understood where the NHL was when they switched the playoff format to the wild card. They wanted to grow some regional rivalries with teams that are more familiar in the division guaranteeing matchups against each other. You wanna make sure that a really good team isn't left out simply because of the one through eight game i don't think it's

accomplished what it set has set out to accomplish the biggest gripe that has just been constant

and it happens every year is that you're running into first and second round games or matchups that should be if it's a lot of times

a first round matchup is like man one of these teams could have won the whole thing and they're

and they're out and then a second round matchups how many years in a like seemingly in a row

did Pittsburgh and Washington always meet and it was just like those were the best two teams in the east yeah and and Washington always meet. And it was just like, those were the best two teams in the East. Yeah. And one of them is out in the second round. And we're going to run into a situation this year where it's likely like Dallas and Colorado could potentially meet in the second round. And it's just like, well, those are the two best teams of the Western Conference. And one of's not going to be in the final. And look, you've got Dallas and Minnesota. If it started, we're going on, you know, Thursday night where the standings are at. You got Dallas and Minnesota in the first round. Right. So one of the three best teams in the West is gone right away. You've got Tampa and Montreal in the east, two teams that can certainly make a run.

Maybe Montreal is a little bit further down in that Stanley Cup favorite list,

but it wouldn't be the most shocking thing to see them jump up.

But it just feels like, you know what?

Appreciated what you were trying to do.

See it.

Give it.

Let's give it a few years to see if it works.

I really don't feel like around the league that existing rivalries have gotten more intense or that new ones have been born.

And I think what was great about the one through eight format that they'd used forever

is that it was really good at developing non-traditional rivalries.

Right.

The Hawks and Canucks are nowhere near each other.

That was the best rivalry in hockey for a long time.

Yeah.

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