Or at least put him in charge of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs.
Eddie Olczyk of NBC Sports was on my show Wednesday. When I commented on the crapshoot nature of the NHL’s proposed round-robin among each conference’s top four teams that would determine seeding for the playoffs’ first round proper, the scorer of 342 NHL goals responded with pure, unadulterated brilliance.
Edzo suggested weighting the round-robin’s standings thusly: The regular season’s top seed in each conference begins the round-robin with four points, the No. 2 seed gets three, the No. 3 seed gets two and the No. 4 seed gets one. (This could also be done with 3-2-1-0 points.)
In the Eastern Conference, for example, Boston would start with four points, Tampa Bay with three, Washington with two and Philadelphia with one.
Edzo’s plan makes the seeds slightly more likely to hold and rewards what was accomplished in the regular season. It’s less haphazard and more fair. Boston got 100 points in 70 games and had eight points more than Tampa Bay. The Bruins should not start off even with the East's other three top seeds.
Gary Bettman, take note: Adopt the Edzo plan for the preliminary round-robin. Don’t let the genius of this keen, horse racing-expert mind go to waste. #EdzoForCommish
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