Talk:Stanley Cup playoffs

Old formats

I feel like the elephant in the room with the old playoff format is: why was it so insane? What was the point of having the two 1st-place teams play each other in the Semifinal, knocking one of them out before the Finals? Why did the league ever contemplate having the 1st vs. 1st series be best-of-5, but then the Finals were best-of-3? It is just so bizarre, and it feels like there's a story worth telling in that. MrArticleOne (talk) 01:27, 22 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I'm assuming you are referring to the format that is diagrammed on 1928–29 NHL season#Playoff bracket. It is similar to a double-elimination tournament, except instead of a first round, the two first place teams were automatically placed in the "Winners Bracket" and the other teams in the "Losers Bracket". As for the Finals being a best-of-3, I cannot answer that and may need further research. Zzyzx11 (talk) 04:13, 22 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I understand how it worked, what I can't understand is what possible rationale there could have been for setting up a tournament this way. Why the mix and match series formats from round to round (total goals for some, best-of-x for others, where the x is not always constant)? Why this business with having your 2 best teams face each other in the Semifinals? Just to consider your point with a winner's and a loser's bracket -- those make sense because the teams in the loser's bracket got a chance in the winner's bracket first, and the loser's bracket represents their 2nd chance. But in the weird format the NHL used, one of those teams was just straight-up out of the tournament. It is so bizarre that it just seems to beg for an explanation of what could possibly have motivated them to ever set it up this way. MrArticleOne (talk) 06:11, 22 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Again, further research will be needed as to what the league's motivations were back then. They only list the past formats,[1] but not the rationale behind them. This is basically the same as the other NHL material I have access too. Although, I do know that someone commented on a message board posting that the league attempted to drum up interest by always guaranteeing that the two best teams would meet at some point during the playoffs,[2] but a forum posting is not considered a reliable source under Wikipedia policies. Zzyzx11 (talk) 06:29, 22 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Certainly, certainly. I was just trying to zero in on what I meant would be useful to add to the article: the "why" of the weirdness. MrArticleOne (talk) 14:58, 22 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

NHL playoff results tables

I see someone has started creating tables listing NHL playoff results since 1916. I suggest splitting this to another article for two reasons. First, it only lists NHL results, and competition for the Stanley Cup pre-date the league's formation, and then the Cup was competed by other leagues before the NHL took control in 1927. Two, I project that once all these tables are completed (up to now 2018), it is going to start taking more than half of the article, especially when either printed or viewed on a mobile device. So better to do it now than wait ten or so years later when these tables will take even more space (including what appears likely to be future expansion to add a 32nd NHL team). Zzyzx11 (talk) 11:10, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Aside from not following WP:COLOR does this even warrant being included in any article? We already have an article similar to this that is more detailed list of NHL playoff series and that article is already big enough and does a better job than these tables do. Deadman137 (talk) 13:25, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

If the idea is to present them in a timeline, then maybe yes. The only comparable I currently see is NFL playoff results (listing them in somewhat chronological order) and List of NFL playoff games (listing them by each team, like list of NHL playoff series). Zzyzx11 (talk) 18:05, 13 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Honestly, I would support it if looked anything like the NFL playoff results article. In it's current form with all the colours and what not, I would just get rid of it. Deadman137 (talk) 17:20, 15 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Same; I almost considered getting rid of it altogether, especially because it broke a protocol I never knew about (WP:COLOR). I'm considering spitting this across several articles maybe, with one focusing on each era (like one based on the Original Six era of playoffs), or one big article with subsections based on decade (The main sections focus on each round). –Piranha 249 15:43, 20 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The prose sections being added with these tables are becoming redundant to the "history" section, in describing the different changes to the playoff format throughout the years. Zzyzx11 (talk) 03:20, 24 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Since we last spoke, I started a Userspace draft based on the ideas of me and Deadman137, one that also breaks up into subsections with the varying format changes over the years. This isn't the first time I tried applying this NFL-exclusive page to a different league, as I had done one earlier on Major League Baseball. –Piranha 249 21:17, 2 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

It looks a lot better. The question I have is, should this be separated by era or round? The reason that I ask is that from the '43 playoffs to current day the playoff formats are relatively straightforward (with the exception of the Preliminary round before the merger in '79). The other issues are that from 1918-1942 we have many different playoff formats and for almost the first decade we have up to three different leagues competing for the Stanley Cup. If we were to treat this like the list of NHL playoff series and just focus on the NHL that's fine with me and solves the one issue. Deadman137 (talk) 20:21, 7 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

You're right about focusing solely on the NHL (EDIT: I've moved the page to User:Piranha249/sandbox/NHL playoff results), but I'm not honestly sure regarding how we divide it based on what you said about Pre-1942 playoffs (I thought the round based system, which I used from the NFL results page and MLB postseason draft, would work because it was easier to maintain). –Piranha 249 21:50, 7 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Deadman137 and Zzyzx11: I think I'll leave the way I did it as is, but before we try to move it onto the mainspace, I need your help (and the help of others @ WikiProject Ice Hockey) adding the information of all the results in each year onto the page. We'll be starting from 1943 onwards, while I try to get pre-1942 playoffs figured out, so it's a good thing we're only doing the NHL results. –Piranha 249 14:51, 10 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Deadman137: and @Zzyzx11: It's been a week, but nobody came to the subpage to help, so should I start by moving everything to a mainspace page, or add information first? Sorry if I'm annoying you both. –Piranha 249 19:44, 18 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

You're not annoying me at all, I've been working on preparing for this week's draft. Honestly if this takes all summer to get done no one is going to notice, and outside of this group no one is going to care until March of next year. As soon as I finish the draft stuff and fixing up some templates that the project is going to be changing sometime this summer, I'm all yours. Deadman137 (talk) 20:10, 18 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Deadman137: and @Zzyzx11: Late thank you, but I'm having a bit of a setback in the wake of some big free agency moves in the NBA that's requiring me to take action and supervise some pages, so when your finished, just start without me (I already filled some spaces on the page, like the current format since 2014). Hopefully we'll get the page moved to the mainspace! –Piranha 249 01:55, 3 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Almost a month since that last post, would've thought we'd get to it much sooner. –Piranha 249 15:02, 29 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Table error

Colorado Avalanche has a blank background in the 2018 playoffs table despite having a number of playoff appearances, and having made the playoffs according to Colorodo Avalanche. Change the colour appropriately. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cornea Scratcher (talk • contribs) 08:32, 18 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Ryder Cup

Fix your error in naming “the only professional sport in North America to name its event after the trophy. The Ryder Cup is a massively prestigious professional event and has been for decades. Look it up 2600:1011:B18A:3AA5:FC55:ADBD:CB41:2EFC (talk) 16:07, 6 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Stanley Cup

It's Stanley Cup final not Stanley Cup finals 2600:1700:8B81:1E80:7566:7586:E934:3D0B (talk) 13:31, 19 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]