A/B-Rival Playoff Format Example 3
Here is the third and final example:
In this scenario, a team below 16th place make the playoffs (#17 Washington) by leading its A-Rivals, while #11 Vegas and #13 Tampa Bay earn spots by leading 2 other unqualified 3rd place teams with no unqualified 2nd place teams in between (#9 Seattle qualifies via #12 New Jersey, since there are only 2 3rd place teams after Seattle before New Jersey), and #19 Buffalo earns a spot by being 2nd amongst its A-Rivals and not being behind a trio of unqualified 3rd place teams (#14 NY Rangers would have qualified instead if #20 Los Angeles had been ahead of Buffalo):
The matchup with the most separation in the standings is #1 Philadelphia vs. #18 Washington, with other possibilities indicated with the faded out logos to each team’s right:
Next, #4 Columbus draws #19 Buffalo (15 spots):
Next, #2 Winnipeg draws #10 Montreal and #3 Vancouver draws #11 Vegas (8 spots):
Next, #7 Florida draws #13 Tampa Bay (7 spots):
Next, #5 San Jose draws #9 Seattle (4 spots):
Next, #6 Anaheim draws #8 Colorado (2 spots):
Finally, the remaining 2 teams (#12 New Jersey and #16 Detroit), who are not Rivals, draw each other. This means that alternatives to make the one Non-Rival matchup fairer can be considered:
However, the only alternative that follows the rules is switching New Jersey’s opponent to #17 Washington, and Detroit’s to #4 Columbus, so this shows that the alternatives don’t always fix unfair matchups (#12 vs #17 instead of #12 vs #16, both unfair):
The faded out teams lose their first round matchups, and the remaining teams move on to the second round:
The first matchup with the most separation is #1 Philadelphia vs #17 Washington (16 spots):
The next matchup with the most separation is #3 Vancouver vs #9 Seattle (6 spots):
The remaining four teams do not share any Rivalries, and there are no alternative matchups that improve fairness so they match up best vs worst:
The faded out teams lose their second round matchups, and the remaining teams move on to the third round:
The four teams in the third round also do not share any Rivalries, so they match up best vs worst. In this case a significant amount of time zone travel could have been saved in both series by matching up #3 Vancouver with #8 Colorado instead of #7 Florida, but without any Rivalries, and without a conference system in place, only fairness is prioritized here. However, an all-Eastern Time Zone Stanley Cup Final occurs as a result of this:
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