Throughout the NHL season, the best teams have all come out of the Metropolitan division: The Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, and Columbus Blue Jackets.

These three teams are the first teams to make the NHL playoffs. The bad thing for these teams is the NHL’s terrible playoff format. Even though all of these teams were first to make it to the playoffs, they still will not get the first three seeds, making it a race for first place in the division.

Even though that these three teams have the best records in the NHL, whatever two teams do not finish in first place in the division will have to battle each other out in the first round, despite each team having a better record than anyone in the Atlantic. The NHL make this format happen to place more emphasis and more energy for rivalries throughout the league coming into the playoffs.

This could also hurt the first place finisher, because that team, which might end up with the most points in the NHL, still would have to face the winner of the series between the second and third seeds- even though those teams will have more points than other playoff teams.

There is a good sign for the New York Rangers though. The Rangers have the best chance to finish fourth in the division causing them to have the first wild card spot in the east. This mean that they will cross over to play against the best team in the other division, causing them to have a better chance and an easier path to the conference final.

The format will remain until the 2018-19 season according to NHL.com, which will lead to continuing frustration until it is changed.