Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the playoff format is not a burning issue for owners, wasn't discussed by GMs and should be looked at over a long period of time instead of focusing on "anomalies".

"For the most part, I think it's worked as we anticipated it would work," Daly said. "I believe in terms of the matchups in the first two rounds of the playoffs, they're better with this format. They're just more intense and more familiar with this format than they were in the old format."

Reigniting and creating new rivalries was the goal of this playoff format, which mimics the one in place for most of the '80s and early '90s. Inequities have happened, but so has plenty of drama on Cup runs by the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and the Penguins (twice).

"I think that as a fan, you want to see matchups against rivals," said New Jersey defenseman Ben Lovejoy, who won the Cup with Pittsburgh in 2016.

"I think that pits archenemies against each other more often and it can backfire every once in a while. You can get two high seeds playing each other in the first round or the second round and perhaps that's not fair, but I think ultimately it's good for the game to have heated playoff series against teams that don't like each other and see each other a lot."

Heated playoff series make this time of year fun, but Predators versus Jets and Bruins versus Lightning would be just as compelling, if not more so, in the conference finals.

Hockey people reluctant to fault the system typically take an approach like Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, who said: "Whether the format itself is right or wrong, if you want to win the Cup, you have to find a way to get through this format."

The difficult part is the format isn't created equally, making one road to the semifinals or final potentially easier than another.

"I don't necessarily agree with how it is, but it's the way it is," said winger Wayne Simmonds, whose Flyers open against the Penguins on Thursday.

"You have to have a mindset that you're going to play teams in your division first and foremost, and that's just the way it is."

Orpik said players can't wait to revisit the format when the agreement is up, which could be part of the next round of collective bargaining talks. But there's no consensus on what would be better－a return to 1 through 8, league-wide 1 through 16 or something else.

"You can play a 1-to-16 playoff pool, but I would suggest that there'll be inequities in that," Predators GM David Poile said.

"Pick your poison. I think you change that and you come up with the next idea, you run into the same thing. I don't think there's any playoff plan that everybody would say is perfect."

AP