from Scott Stinson at the Toronto Sun,

The NHL commissioner, speaking at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, the annual gathering on the Boston waterfront that is like Woodstock for data nerds, was asked about the possibility of tweaking the NHL playoff system to add one-game “play-in” games similar to what now happens with baseball’s wild-card teams. “To me, it doesn’t make any sense,” Bettman said, shaking his head. Why go through the grind of the 82-game regular season just to be punted from the playoffs in one day?

Moments later, after acknowledging the great success of the new 3-on-3 overtime format, Bettman was asked if could see the NHL introducing it, or the shootout, in the playoffs. He didn’t hesitate: no. TWO agreements with the NHL commissioner in the space of five minutes? Was this the end times?

Thankfully, no. For the rest of his chat on stage, the NHL commissioner was his usual self, dismissive of all criticism and firmly ensconced in a world in which the league has never made a poor decision and hockey always manages to be better today than it was yesterday.

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