Talk:2021 Stanley Cup playoffs

List of playoff teams
I am suggesting creating list of the 16 NHL playoff teams, numbered from one (Colorado) all the way to 16 (Montreal), maybe even showing points and tie-breakers where necessary. I can see readers becoming curious as to who will play who in the semifinals as we get closer to the final four. We might even have a colour scheme to show which teams have qualified for the semifinals, which are still alive and which have been eliminated. These are just ideas that I am throwing on the table. I will defer to the editors who do a lot more good work here than I ever will.NazartheGreat (talk) 23:50, 18 May 2021 (UTC)


 * I am a little confused on your request. Are you asking for the section with the playoff teams to be converted to a 1 through 16 format? Since I feel all of this is well explained in the bracket section. Conyo14 (talk) 06:33, 20 May 2021 (UTC)


 * I am not asking for anything to be converted. It would be a new separate section where all 16 playoff teams are listed in order from 1 to 16 so that the users can easily figure out who the potential semi-final opponents are as we get closer to round 3. Let's say Carolina, Toronto, and Boston are already in the semis, and Colorado is facing Minnesota in game 7. The user could easily see that Toronto would play Carolina if Colorado wins, but would play Minnesota if the Wild qualify. Right now we have teams from different divisions with the same number of points, and I don't know the order of these teams without doing some research on regulation wins etc etc.NazartheGreat (talk) 23:21, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I can't see a second section being made as it would only result in more busy work. As it stands right now we're only focused on the first two rounds when it comes to tiebreakers. Should the issue come up in the final two rounds only the relevant tiebreakers will be added in the playoff team section as we have done in previous seasons. Deadman137 (talk) 23:34, 20 May 2021 (UTC)


 * I guess I am not explaining myself properly. It's a one-time list showing all 16 teams ranked from 1 to 16. Once it's posted it never changes. There is nothing busy about it.NazartheGreat (talk) 04:30, 24 May 2021 (UTC)


 * No, I understood exactly what you wanted from the beginning. The fact is, that a list like that will not serve much purpose. There are only two potential series where we would have to add anything to the existing section and if Minnesota gets eliminated this week that would be reduced to one (Toronto and Pittsburgh). If either of those two latter teams also get eliminated in the first two rounds then there is no need for any further updates as any user would be able to figure out potential seeding on their own. Deadman137 (talk) 15:35, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

Redesigned bracket with colors
I made a new 2021 bracket that uses a different color for each division based on the colors in the official division logos. I also spaced out the reseeded semifinal matchups the same way that Template:16TeamBracket-NHL-reseed does. This is my first time doing Wikipedia editing, so I apologize if the source is a little sloppy. I'd appreciate it if someone could help make this the template. Thanks! --Nhlfan9824 (talk) 23:39, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

UPDATE: I changed the colors to make the template WCAG compliant. --Nhlfan9824 (talk) 19:58, 21 May 2021 (UTC)


 * We're definitely not going to do this as it violates WP:COLOR and does not add any context to the existing bracket. Deadman137 (talk) 23:45, 19 May 2021 (UTC)


 * What part of WP:COLOR does it violate? If it's contrasts I can just change the shading. But I think it's important for the template to have some colors. The NHL began determining teams' bracket positions by division and conference in 1982, and every bracket template representing years since then has used color to delineate the different groups in the template. I think the reason we've used color for all those templates is obvious: it's clearer and it just looks better. I don't see why we suddenly wouldn't use colors for this year, especially since, just like for the conferences with their red and blue logos, there are official logos for the four divisions. --Nhlfan9824 (talk) 00:16, 20 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Personally I like seeing the new contrast of colors. However, it kind of falls under a grey area of WCAG when doing this. Guideline 1.3 of WCAG 2.0 states "Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure." For reference, Canada uses WCAG 2.0 for all domain websites. Since these articles are written in Canadian-English, these articles too fall under Canada's standards. It does not directly violate WP:COLOR, but it also sets up a possible scenario for an RfC so other editors an provide input. Conyo14 (talk) 06:49, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

We know what division winners will play who now that Toronto is eliminated
The West Division winner whether if it's Colorado or Vegas(both with 82 points) will be the home team against the North Division winner Montreal(59 points) or Winnipeg(63 points).

The Central Division winner; Carolina(80 points) or Tampa Bay(75 points) will be the home team against the East Division winner; Boston(73 points) or NY Islanders(71 points).

I think the bracket can be updated now to reflect that in the semifinal round that the North and the West can be connected to each other and the East and the Central can be connected.
 * That won't be happening as your change would imply that this was how things were setup, instead of how they randomly worked out. Deadman137 (talk) 02:20, 1 June 2021 (UTC)


 * Can an update be made that states based on who advanced to the second round it can now be determined that the semifinal round will result in these matchups?


 * Everything regarding the semifinals is set in stone concurrently with how the second round will end. In other years, we do not do the same kind of future match-ups. People should be able to figure it out. In any case, a note will be made for the semifinals listing out the League seeding for each of the semifinalists.Conyo14 (talk) 17:30, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

Playoff seeds showing RW and ROW
Should all the playoff seeds show their RW and ROW? Right now, only some division champions and other teams show it, maybe it could also be shown by the other teams? Newfiebluejay (talk) 20:57, 1 June 2021 (UTC)


 * It's only shown for tiebreakers. This is explained in the Standings section of each season. Conyo14 (talk) 22:18, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

Third round
Since there were no conferences this season, what are the conference finals written as on this page? Newfiebluejay (talk) 13:34, 7 June 2021 (UTC)


 * The Third Round will be called "Stanley Cup Semifinals." Conyo14 (talk) 16:29, 7 June 2021 (UTC)


 * It is unfair to use the 2–2–1–1–1 home ice format for the third and fourth rounds. Due to the closed divisions, these teams had no history against one another prior to the match-ups. Neither team deserves the extra home game 5 and 7 on the basis of where they finished or how many points they collected, as the divisions had no crossover games and the opponents were entirely different. The 2-3-2 format is a bit less unfair. Also, as the teams (probably) have greater geographical separation, it makes sense to play one fewer trip. WHPratt (talk) 01:06, 14 June 2021 (UTC)


 * Why are you complaining about that here? I suggest reviewing the talk page guidelines, as the sort of issue you raise is not the purpose of these talk pages. It’s not like anyone reading your comment is going to be in a position to do anything about it anyway (setting aside the absurdity of changing the format once play has begun). 1995hoo (talk) 02:13, 14 June 2021 (UTC)
 * As the article does mention the 2-2-1-1-1 format, it might be good to note here that it was illogical under the circumstances involved. WHPratt (talk) 19:57, 12 April 2022 (UTC)

Why is the semifinal bracket incorrect
The playoff bracket is very disorganized and has the 1v4 and 2v3 semifinal flip flopped — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.182.235.246 (talk) 04:18, 10 June 2021 (UTC)


 * What do you mean? It's always 1v4 on top because of the higher seed. It's like this with every other sport too.Conyo14 (talk) 05:21, 10 June 2021 (UTC)

It doesn't line up with the second round. Vegas is where the winner of Tampa Bay vs Carolina should be. If you want the first seed to be top, they have to be top from the beginning, they can't switch around from round to round. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FEA8:2E21:D00:896E:45A5:D8D1:E789 (talk) 03:25, 25 June 2021 (UTC)


 * The first two rounds of the template are in alphabetical order based on the division names. The Third Round is re-seeded based on League Standings. I know it looks confusing, it's just kind of how it has to be.Conyo14 (talk) 03:40, 25 June 2021 (UTC)


 * It doesn't really "have to be" that way; it would certainly be equally accurate to reverse the two brackets there. However, the current style reflects Wikipedia consensus that was reached back in the days when the NHL reseeded the playoff bracket after the first round. There was discussion about whether to rearrange the matchups to reflect who advanced to play whom, but there was a counterargument that doing so implied that the bracket was a fixed bracket along the lines of the NCAA basketball tournament (in which, for example, if #16 wins, they play the winner of #8/#9, whereas under the "reseeding" system they'd play #2, assuming #2 win their game). People agreed that it was misleading to imply a fixed bracket. The consensus was to use a modified bracket that is similar conceptually to what we see in this article. Notice how there are lines connecting the first two rounds, and the third and fourth rounds, but there are no lines connecting the second and third rounds. The omission of lines there is intended to reflect that it's not a "pure bracket" system because the divisional finals don't lead directly to the Stanley Cup Semifinals. Notice also how the seeding numbers differ for the final two rounds (straight 1 thru 4) compared to the first two (divisional designators preceding the seed numbers). 1995hoo (talk) 14:48, 25 June 2021 (UTC)

Conference trophies
In mid-May, the league had announced that with the suspension of conferences, the Campbell and Wales trophies would not be awarded this season. Now that the Semifinals are now known, that the Canadiens will face the Knights and the Islanders will go against the Lightning, the NHL PR dept is now saying that they will be presented after all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Zzyzx11 (talk) 04:22, 11 June 2021 (UTC)

A word on repetitive statements
There is an important contrast to be made between the Stanley Cup Semifinals and, for example, the NFL playoffs, the World Series and even the Stanley Cup Finals under the NHL's post '04 lockout scheduling formula.

Under those other scheduling formulas it is/was not certain whether or not the matchups will/would feature teams that played each other in the regular season, so it makes sense to stiuplate individually in the description of each matchup whether or not the teams had played each other. But that is not the case for the '21 SCSF. The schedule was strictly in division and so was the first two rounds of the playoffs, so there was never a possibility the R3 opponenets would have played each other in the regular season.

Thus, printing such identical statements for each matchup in R3 amounts to needless repetition and furthermore implies there was a possibility the R3 teams could have played in the regular season, which obviously wasn't true this season. The more appropriate solution is to say once in the header that none of the SCSF teams played each other, with a brief explanation why, and omit the sentence from the description of each series.23.17.109.24 (talk) 15:50, 11 June 2021 (UTC)

Comparison to 1924 SCSF lacking full context
If it really is relevant to make a comparison to a SCSF from 97 years ago then full and proper context is needed and the article as currently written is seriously wanting for that. The 1924 SC playoffs were a radically different format compared to even the 1927 SC playoffs and later when they became FAI&P the NHL playoffs, but the article only vaguely implies there was some sort of interleague championship in those days. Was it a straight knockout format? Did the three leagues play a round robin first? You'd have no idea after reading this article because it doesn't say. In fact in 1924 there was only one SCSF series between teams that didn't play in the RS, the other 1924 "semifinal" series FAI&P being the WCHL final which obviously had teams that had already played each other. But there's no way to deduce that in the article. Having said that, this explanation doesn't belong in the main body of the article. That is what footnotes are for. 2605:B100:716:36AB:E8B0:9E01:17FE:94F3 (talk) 03:35, 14 June 2021 (UTC)