Another major change to the game has reportedly been discussed by the National Hockey League's top brass and has received a very mixed reaction thus far.
From ESPN's Chuck Gormley:
Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, a driving force behind the NHL adopting its wildly popular 3-on-3 overtime, wondered recently how exciting it would be for the league to adopt a wild-card play-in game similar to what is used by Major League Baseball.
This would indeed be a very big and very exciting change, for those of you unfamiliar with the play-in game that MLB uses, essentially one extra wild-card spot is added to each conference. That team then gets to battle what would be the existing NHL wild-card team in a one-game playoff to see who gets to advance to the best of 7 format.
Flyers general manager Ron Hextall isn't a fan of the idea however:
"Personally, I'm not in favor of it," said Hextall. "I think we demand a lot of our players and playing more games, I don't think, is a solution.
The idea does seem to have legs however, something that Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill admitted while also adding that he had reservations about the implantation of the idea.
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"It is something we've discussed and it has gained some traction," said Nill. "But what if the second wild-card team has a six-point lead on the ninth-place team? Should they be knocked out of the playoffs because they lose one game?"
Players however seem to be reacting in a much more negative fashion including Philadelphia Flyers star forward Jakub Voracek who flat out called it a stupid idea.
"I think it's stupid," Flyers forward Jakub Voracek said. "A one-game playoff? I don't think this is baseball. You have 82 games to get in the playoffs. If you're not in, you're out."
It could add more excitement with a 9th placed team getting a chance to get in, but it could also cause a great deal of drama in the long-run. Holland's three on three overtime has proven to be a great success however, so it's no surprise to learn that the NHL is at least listening to the possibility of this idea.