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From: animal@ihlpa.UUCP (D. Starr)
Newsgroups: net.sport.hockey
Subject: Re: 2nd best team in NHL
Message-ID: <963@ihlpa.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Dec-85 13:31:01 EST
Article-I.D.: ihlpa.963
Posted: Tue Dec 24 13:31:01 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 25-Dec-85 03:16:54 EST
References: <2418@yale.ARPA> <6940001@acf4.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 46

Along with a number of other musings on who should be number 2 in the NHL,
Carlo Cernivani made a couple pithy observations about our beloved Norris
division [I mean the hockey teams, not the division of the Norris estate,
which was the cause of an interesting $2.5-million lawsuit agains Bill Wirtz,
owner of the Blackhawks]:

> Before the year started I 
> thought Chicago would rebound from last year and turn it around.  Guess not.
> 
> Last but not least, you gotta love the Red Wings.  They're making the Ranger
> payroll look like a dime store operation.  

The Hawks and Redwings are both suffering from the same problem:  they're 
stuck in the Norris division, which means that there's really little or no
reason to play hard during the regular season.  When the whole regular season
serves to eliminate only one team, *and* the division contains one consistently
cellar-bound team like Toronto (does anyone really doubt that they'll pull out
a few come-from-ahead defeats and be eliminated by Valentine's Day?), who 
cares if you finish first or fourth, or what your record is?  Those of you
who follow football have probably noticed the difficulty the Bears had playing
hard after they clinched their division.  I've noticed the same problem with
the Hawks all season--much of the time they've just been going through the
motions waiting for the game to end.

You might wonder why the Smythe division doesn't have this problem, even though
it has the certifiably awful L. A. Kings (a Norris team if there ever was one).
I think the reason is that the three remaining teams (Edmonton, of course, takes
first place by default) are fighting to avoid fourth place and its inevitable
first-round elimination at the hands of the Oilers.  If you finish second or
third, you at least have a chance at the second round.

And of course, the Wales conference teams are evenly-enough matched that 
nobody's guaranteed a playoff spot until the last week of the season; hence,
good play.

I think the only real solution to this problem is some sort of revision to
the playoff system, one which makes the real season matter for something.
How about this:  only eight teams make the playoffs (instead of 16), with
four being the division champs and the other four being chosen based on
their records (say two from each conference, but they could be from the
same division).  In the Norris division especially, that kind of a playoff
setup could make the regular season games worth watching.

Dan Starr
ihlpa!animal
Chicago Stadium 2nd Balcony 4/D/D/13