The 24-team playoffs on Friday featured six elimination games that kept hockey fans in their seats from noon until 1:30 p.m. Elimination Friday saw five teams knocked out of the tournament, including the Pittsburgh Penguins and Edmonton Oilers who have two of the league’s biggest superstars, Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. Both 12 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference advanced add to the unpredictability and excitement.
With all that good hockey, hockey fans and analysts have become more open to this playoff format, replacing what the NHL had before, expanding the number of playoff teams, and permanently introducing a play-in round.
One player who is not 100 percent on board with this is Braden Holtby
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“I’m envious, do you think the NHL should adopt this 24-team playoff format for good? Holtby was asked during his meeting with reporters on Friday.
“No,” Holtby said, shaking his head.
You could see the horror in Braden’s eyes as he imagined such a scenario unfolding in future years.
“I think this is a unique situation and the system we had before is the best way,” he concluded.
Although Holtby believes that the 24-team format should be placed in the trash of history, he has found some advantages to playing in an empty arena.
“The lines of sight are beautiful,” Holtby said. “The least they’ve placed (over the seats) are great,” Holtby said. ‘That helps a lot. Many buildings go to black seats, so if it is the beginning of a period like something and no one is sitting yet, you will lose a lot of pucks in those seats. You do not have to deal with this. Loud you can hear everything, that makes it a little easier. ”
But during games, Holtby admitted: ‘I really do not feel different. I felt pretty normal. A few of the guys on the bench said it was kind of a hard time, which of course you as a goalkeeper should not have to deal with. I was quite surprised. It seemed like a normal game. ‘
His only bubble meat? ‘I think I’m getting too much [sleep]. My body does not know what to do. ”
Screenshot: Zoom
