Post-Olympic buzz fueling tight races for Stanley Cup Playoffs, Bettman says

The Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers are tied in points for first place in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the third-place Vegas Golden Knights. Five teams are within four points of each other in the battle for the second wild card in the West.

“If you look at the races for the playoffs, I think it’s virtually impossible to say that the regular season has no meaning,” Bettman said. “To the contrary, every game counts.”

Bettman also said the current playoff format — which has the two division winners play the two wild cards in each conference, and the second- and third-place teams in each division play each other in the first round, gives the NHL a spectacular start to the postseason.

“It gives us a sensational first round, probably the best playoff first round in any sport,” Bettman said. “We get more games and longer series as a result of the format. You can always pick at certain situations in any given year and say, ‘Well, I’d like it to be different that year,’ but if you look at the body of work that our playoffs represent over time, what we have now works extraordinarily well.

“It makes it exciting. It makes it entertaining. It’s about us presenting a terrific game to our fans. I don’t think there’s any debate that what we’ve been doing under the current format does that.”

The NHL schedule expands to 84 games per team next season, up from 82. The expectation from the League is the extra two games per team, each played in the division, should have an even greater impact on the divisional playoff races and first-round matchups.

“Going to 84 games, what really that does is balance off divisional play,” Bettman said. “Every team will play every other team twice at home and twice away, which I think is good so we’re not doing any rotation within the division. If anything, I think it makes it more impactful.”