It’s one of the hardest trophies in sports to win due to the attritional nature and the number of rounds.
im loath to keep adding to that, but accept there is an issue with a league that has a single prize and teams that may go a very long time without not even winning but getting remotely close to it.
added to the fact the league is a commercial venture based on franchises rather than clubs, so there isn’t even tenure and security for teams especially if attendance drops due to performance.
there needs to be more than one carrot. Yes the Stanley cup is the ultimate pinnacle of the NHL, but maybe have some lesser cups through the year in a knockout format and not a series format so anyone could win on the night.
maybe also have a play in round as I like that, and throw the cup winners into this round if they didn’t already qualify.
obviously would need to be thought out more but for me the issue isn’t the number of teams competing for the Stanley cup (if anything I would reduce the number) but the lack of alternate ‘trophies and history’
In the EPL clubs at different stages have different goals from winning the league to qualifying for champions league /other European comps, to going on a good cup run.
I get a huge difference between open and closed leagues but if the NHL had a knockout cup completion that wasn’t part of the regular rankings a team feasibility could be rebuilding, yet still push for wins in that way without impacting draft position