Carolina wanted to make it harder for the Rangers to win their play-in series
Carolina's opposition to the NHL's 24-team playoff format has been well documented. One of just two teams to vote against the proposal (Tampa Bay being the other), both head coach Rod Brind'Amour and Hurricanes player rep Jordan Martinook have explained the team did not feel the format is fair. Now there's word the Hurricanes made two proposals before the vote took place, one that would have made it much harder for their opponent to win their upcoming play-in series.
In his latest 31 Thoughts article, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet explains that Carolina first proposed that instead of a play-in series, "weight the 12 teams in each conference by the percentage chance they had to make the final 16. Each team would then play three games, leading to the “final” regular-season standings. Therefore, instead of Chicago and Montreal getting closer to a 50 per cent chance of making the playoffs, their odds would remain at three per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively."
To be fair, not a crazy idea, although perhaps a little complex. However, it's the next proposal that the team made that makes you think the Hurricanes really did not want to face the New York Rangers in the play-in round.
According to Friedman, Carolina wanted to "force their play-in opponent, the Rangers, to win four of the five games. If Carolina won twice in that scenario, the series would have been over and the Hurricanes would have automatically advanced."
Whether or not you view the play-in round as fair, it's difficult the think many would agree that one team having to win fewer games than the other to advance is a balanced way for a series to take place. Friedman states both proposals were rejected, leading to Carolina's no vote on the entire 24-team format.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 14, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Nick Suzuki | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Ivan Demidov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mitch Marner | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Phillip Danault | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Josh Anderson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Josh Doan | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mikael Granlund | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Konsta Helenius | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Texier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||