from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

You think the current system is tragically busted? Let’s remember 1986, when the Maple Leafs made the playoffs with 57 points and Vancouver made it with 59, while the Buffalo Sabres had 80 points and didn’t get a playoff berth.

That’s flawed.

Let’s go back further. In the 1967 playoffs, Chicago finished first with 94 points and Montreal finished second with 77. But under the rules, the Blackhawks played the third-place Leafs (75 points) and the Habs got the fourth-place New York Rangers.

Seriously, how dumb can you get?

Hold my beer, NHL authorities said to that. The next season, they put all six expansion teams in one division and the Original Six in the other, and then used a division-based playoff format which produced an absurd final between the powerhouse Montrealers and the expansion Blues.

The point is, folks, far too many people are writing and talking about the current playoff format as though there’s an easy and obvious solution, and as if this league hasn’t struggled for decades to come up with a logical system that creates intense rivalries but also rewards regular-season performance.

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