With the NBA doing play in tournaments how about if the NHL adapts a similar process for Wild Card Teams. In that instead of a play in tourament it will be a TRIPLE THREAT MATCH!!!
So the Playoff Bracket of the Western Confernece (using last year's standings) it will look like this
Pacific
Vegas
Edmonton
LA
Central
Colorado
Dallas
Minnesota
Wild Card
Seattle
Winnipeg
Instead now the Wild Card teams (and other teams lower in the standings will complete under TRIPLE THREAT RULES!!!)
Wild Card Triple Threat (Best of 7 match up)
Seattle (7th) vs. Vancouver (11th) vs. St. Louis (12th)
Winnipeg (8th) vs. Calgary (9th) vs. Nashville (10th)
Winner in each advanced to the wild card spots
So here are the rules
The Rink will be converted to a Triangular Format and each corner will be a team's Goal. Offside, Neutral Zone, Icing still applies but changed due to the dimension of the triangle
Faceoffs are done at the center of the triangle with 3 players of each team taking the draw
Fights are also done in a Triple Threat Match as 5 min penalties are still given to a player of each team.
If the game is tied between the three teams at the end of regulation all 3 teams will be involved in OT. If the scored is tied between two teams only 2 teams will be involved and the Rink will be reformatted to a traditional Oval Rink.
OT rules are now done in Elimination format. If a team is scored on they are eliminated.
What do you think?