The NHL playoffs: How things have changed

As the NHL conference finals progress, I took a look back and thought, how different it was in the 1980s.

Franchise stability

At the dawn of the decade, the NHL had its last expansion for, well, a decade. In 1979, the National Hockey League had finally vanquished its pesky rival the World Hockey Association, resulting in a merger that saw the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, Hartford Whalers, and Edmonton Oilers enter the league.

That brought the number of teams to 21. That number would not change until 1991, when the San Jose Sharks became the 22nd franchise in the NHL.

There was also one re-location in 1980 when the Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary.

In fact, the league was so stable there would only be one other re-location when the Colorado Rockies moved to New Jersey and became the Devils in 1982. They also moved from the Smythe Division to the Patrick Division, and Winnipeg moved from the Norris Division to the Smythe. This was also the last time a team changed divisions in the decade.

Playoff certainty
The league realigned for the 1981-1982 season where wild cards were eliminated and the top four teams from each division qualified for the playoffs. First played fourth and second played third in each division in the first round, or division semi-finals. The winners played in the second round, or division final, then those winners played in the conference final, with those two winners playing for the Stanley Cup.

The four divisions were the Smythe and Norris in the Campbell Conference and the Adams and Patrick in the Wales Conference.

It created playoff certainty that, for some, led to playoff monotony. The same teams would meet in the playoffs, especially those first two divisional rounds.

Worse, with no wild cards, weaker divisions had teams qualify for the playoffs with records that were worse, and sometimes far worse, than other divisions.

This structure remained until the start of the 1993-1994 season.

Expansion and re-location
The league decided after a decade, it was indeed time to expand, and the 1990s was a period of rapid growth. In 1991 the San Jose Sharks entered the NHL; in 1992 it was the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning; and in 1993 the Might Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers. It is evident, there was also a desire to move into southern or sun belt markets.

The expansion continued to make the league a full 30 teams with the Nashville Predators entering in 1998; the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999; and the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets in 2000.

Meanwhile franchises also began to re-locate with the Minnesota North Stars moving to Texas to become the Dallas Stars in 1993; the Quebec Nordiques moving to Denver to become the Colorado Avalanche in 1995; the Winipeg Jets moving to Phoenix to become the Arizoan Coyotes in 1996; the Hartford Whalers moving to become the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997; and the Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg in 2011.

The Vegas Golden Knights joined the league in 2017 and the Seattle Kraken became the 32nd NHL franchise in 2021.

The warm weather teams continued a trend, or achieved a goal of the NHL, to move into southern warmer climates. That began with L.A. after the Gretzky trade.

The playoffs today
What a contrast this year’s conference finals are to the entire decade of the 1980s.

There are no original six team in the semi-finals. There is one second six team, that is the six teams that joined in the first expansion in 1967. That is the Minnesota North Stars who have re-located to Dallas. There are no teams that entered in any of the expansions of the 1970s. There is one team from the WHA merger, the Hartford Whalers who moved to Carolina. There is one team from the expansions of the 1990s, the Florida Panthers. Finally, there is one team, Vegas, from the second most recent expansion.

Parting thoughts
I find it interesting how much the NHL has changed. There was no expansion and complete stability in the league in the entire decade of the 1980s.

Now, none of the four teams in the 2023 semi-finals existed in the 1980a as they stand now. Only two existed at all, but in different forms and different cities.

It is quite interesting.