from Bob McKenzie of TSN,
Let's call it the lament of the modern-day NHL general manager.
"The league is so close now, there's so much parity now, every game is a battle," one GM said plaintively. "It's so hard to make the playoffs now. So hard."
Too hard? Perhaps.
It's not lost on the men who live and die with every win or loss or loser point in today's game that in the heady days (circa 1979) of the ‘Original 21,’ 16 teams made the playoffs. Today, with 30 teams, and, quite possibly, soon to be 31 - hands up anyone who seriously doesn't think Las Vegas won't be awarded an expansion franchise - it's still the same number (16) going to the post-season each year.
Should it be more?
It was during a rather routine conversation with a GM recently when I asked myself that very question but only after the GM raised the issue himself.
"Maybe there should be more than 16 in the playoffs or maybe there should be more opportunities for more teams to make it as one of the 16," he mused. "Maybe we need a 'play in' game. Something like that."
If that isn't the basis for a flash poll of NHL GMs, I don't know what is.
So the question I posed to the thoughtful 30 over the last 48 hours was as follows:
Yes or No to a "Play In" single-game elimination to determine the final wild card spot in each conference?
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